The Bull Moose blog, the Air America site, and even Atrios all floated the idea of Al Gore running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 (in a way, I can’t even THINK of another presidential election after last year’s slime fest).
As I read their learned and well-thought-out observations, three words that were seemingly etched in fire immediately burned into my consciousness:
DEAR GOD, NO!
I respect Al Gore a great deal. I think he has been a great public servant, and I think he is a learned man who has much that is good to contribute to the national dialogue. I also hold the organizations he represents and patronizes – most notable, Moveon.org – in high esteem.
However, if he were to run for president again as the Democratic nominee, I think it would be an awful development. The main reason why is because, in the 2000 presidential election, he showed terrible political instincts. If he had let Clinton campaign with him in any of the swing states, particularly Florida…well, I actually don’t want to think about it because the fact that we could have avoided all of the vile Bushco crap we’ve had to deal with if Gore had shown a hint of imagination makes me positively ill.
It was inconceivable to me that Gore could have stood by Clinton so steadfastly during the Ken Starr inquisition but then abandon him at the drop of a hat during the presidential campaign. Also, Gore should have slapped down the Repugs quickly after they started spreading their typical garbage, particularly their misrepresentation of Gore’s quote about the Internet (Gore meant to say that he took a lead role in funding development, which is absolutely correct…sometimes it infuriates me when Dems don’t just level with people and “talk turkey” – Gore fell victim to this, as did John Kerry last year). There was also that moment in one of the debates where Gore got in Bush’s face and tried to “stare him down,” which was positively weird.
Gore also surrounded himself with the usual coterie of DLC stooges and well-moneyed Beltway losers who were just looking to pad their resumes and didn’t exude anywhere near the fervor for his candidacy that the Clintonites did for Bill and Hillary. That was part of the reason why Gore seemed to change his approach for each of the debates, which unfortunately didn’t help him either because it looked like he was acting on the advice of his consultants and not being “natural”.
The man comes off as stiff, which probably isn’t his fault. That’s just the way some people are. He also looked like an opportunist during the 2000 Florida recount (and I’m talking about perceptions here, not reality). As soon as Cruela DeVil certified the results, it became an uphill legal battle, as we know. Gore should have just said he wanted to recount the whole damn state instead of the four Democratic counties in question. However, that whole situation was extraordinary to say the least, and he was trying to win on Repug turf. However, I believe it never should have gotten as far as it did (and as I said, if he’d campaigned with Clinton and they pretended to make nice with each other, and if they’d both told Ralph Nader to get the hell out of it…).
(oh God, I’m starting to feel queasy thinking about all of this again…)
And I like the guy! Think about how voters will feel when the right-wing echo chamber resuscitates every single Gore misrepresentation and makes up new ones (and the Swift Boat Liars will return and gladly oblige on that one).The Democrats need to show some imagination to this country on the national level. They also need to show a spine. Gore will provide the latter, but given his history, I have grave doubts that he can provide the former.
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