To Al Gore And All Potential Presidents: About the Next Historical Era of American Patriotic Reform, National Unity and World Leadership

Dear Mr. Vice President:

To all Democrats: the trumpet summons us again.

As I write these words chaos and carnage are spreading throughout the Middle East, our nation is ever more dangerously dependent on fossil fuels that threaten the safety of our security and the environment of our planet, freedom is fading in a Russia that is walking backwards to Cold War repression, America has abandoned its role as leader of the free world with policies that have alienated the decent opinion of mankind and helped our enemies.

Our military is damaged, our country is divided, our Capital is corrupted, the poorest among us will be hungry and cold on Christmas Eve and our Middle Class is being left behind.

I predict: that America stands on the brink of a post-Bush era that will usher in a new epochal period of American patriotic reform as powerful as the presidential eras of Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosvelt and John F. Kennedy. If the new Democratic Congress and the next Democratic nominee project a patriotic unity, optimism, renewal and confidence the inaugural address in January 2009 will bring a realignment of American politics, and a revival of a rising tide that will lift all boats, here and everywhere.

If ever there was a man or woman with the experience, judgment, temperament, intellect, stature and knowledge to lead our country through these dangerous waters, it is you, it is here, it is now, and this is why.

Mr. Vice President, you have the power to personally transform and elevate our national debate, as you have done with global warming, in ways that will lift the standards of the Democratic Party, lift the discourse of our American democracy, and lift the spirit of a Nation ready to have a serious discussion of the post-Bush era.

I have only positive things to say about every Democrat considering running for President. Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Evan Bayh, Chris Dodd, Tom Vilsack, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Wes Clark, are all enormously talented and gifted and any one of them could grow into the role of the next FDR, Truman or Kennedy.

I believe Democrats should enter 2007 with our version of Ronald Reagan's Eleventh Commandmant and spend 2007 praising them all, and listening to their leadership.

But you, Mr. Vice President, are different.

Never in the history of either political party can I think of any potential candidate or potential President as commander-in-chief qualified as you are, today.

After eight years of a catastrophic President so uninterested in world affairs that he did not even travel the world as a student, tourist or Governor before assuming the most powerful job on earth I believe that qualifications, experience, judgment and knowledge will be the hallmark qualities needed in our next President.

Our Presidential campaign is in full gear in December of 2006 because our country faces major challenges and our incumbent has lost his crediblity to lead with an American people, and freedom's friends around the world, who hunger for his departure and yearn for his successor.

Yet the 2008 campaign has already become a cable television freak show, a people magazine debate where candidates show their legs, and spinmeisters discuss their tactics, and gossip media report their alleged feuds. Our 2008 campaign is little more than platitudes and bromides are that are nothing more than gaseous emissions, from the chattering class, that do not begin to address the crises of our times.

Mr. Vice President, you do not need to decide, campaign, announce, or join the early stages of our show horse parade. I hope that your supporters will spend the next several months expressing their hope you will run, while giving attention and respect to the others considering their candidacy. What I propose you do is not join the "show your legs" national politics but initiate a "show your leadership" series of bold and important statements on the great issues of our age.

A generation from now, historians will look back with enormous admiration for the role you are playing bringing environmental dangers and global warming to the front of our national agenda. In a politics full of empty superlatives words cannot express the magnitude of moral, political and world leadership you are showing.

What you have done, are doing, and will do on this matter stands head and shoulders above any single accomplishment of the Bush White House, and stands head and shoulders above any other single act of leadership offered by any national Democrat on any issue since Bush assumed the Presidency, with the possible exception of Jack Murtha speaking out against the Iraq war before it was easy to do.

Whether you ultimately run or not, you have the potential, Mr. Vice President, to speak out with clarity and courage on the big issues, one by one, in a manner that would set the tone for the new Democratic Congress and chart the course for the 2008 President campaign.

The series of leadership statements on the American future, which you are uniquely qualified to give and which would lift our politics to a higher level, might include these subjects that urgently cry out for serious and elevated debate:

* The search for comprehensive peace in the Middle East. From 1948 until the inaugural of 2001 every American President assumed the role of genuine leader of the free world with a committed search for a lasting peace. For the last six years our President has abdicated and abandoned this role of world leader while the region has slided towards ever-spreading carnage that increasingly resembles not only civil war but religious war, with shades of ethnic cleaning, not only in Iraq but regionwide.

You were wise and courageous in speaking out against the war in Iraq from the beginning, which proved your experience and judgment in ways that official Washington so gravely lacked, on both sides of the aisle, in 2002. Why not lead on the Middle East today?

With your experience and knowledge that is unique among potential future Presidents why dont you outline your own vision for the Middle East? Why not call for the hands-on support of former Presidents such as George Herbert Walker Bush and Bill Clinton, the restoration of American diplomatic leadership, the vision of a better life for a generation of young people throughout the Middle East?

* Virtually every military leader, military expert and American commander fully understands that extreme damage has been done to the force structure and deterrent capability of the American military because of catastrophic mistakes in Iraq. With your experience in the House and Senate, your deep involvement with Armed Services issues and NATO force structures for many years, why not accompany your diplomatic vision with support for the military rebuild that would reverse the damage of the Bush years?

Lay out a strategy, stand with military families of America, explain how military capability and diplomatic leadership tie together, and propose in detail the actions that must be taken for our security, our troops, our deterrent. There is no better statement that is high policy and great politics for Democrats, than offering a national security vision for the American military in a dangerous world.

From pay and benefits for those in uniform, to preventing nuclear terror that Sam Nunn and others warn about, to a rebuild of worn down equipment, to health care care for veterans and support for our homeless vets, you can connect with many tens of millions of Americans and reclaim the national security issue for the party of JFK.

* With your history of being ahead of the curve on new technologies, environmental protection and investment capital achieving social purpose why not offer and champion a comprehensive plan for American energy independence?

Why not lay out a detailed and substantive strategy for alternative energy, explaining the deadly dangers and environmental carnage and threats to our national security of current policies. Explain, in detail, a break with the catastrophic energy policies and discuss in detail how we can define the future with a commitment as daring as JFK pointing his finger to the moon?

* It is time for a frontal challenge to the culture of greed and self-indulgence that has been fostered during the Bush years and a rally cry for justice that will flow like a mighty river, and economic policies that will lift all boats.

John Edwards has shown real leadership on this, and why not praise him? Democrats and Americans would be so grateful for an honest expression of applause such as this, and it is deserved. And take it to the next level with the faith and idealism that you have always shown and base this case on the common aspirations of all of the great religions, quoting them one after another, and take this case of leadership to men and women of faith from all denominations, of all religions, in every region of America, to feed the hungry and cure the ill and clothe the needy.

* Why not follow up on your brilliant and sweeping defense of our freedom in your speech at Constitution Hall and take it to the next level of a comprehensive call to defend freedom, and support democracy in the world?

Why not take this case to the country in clear and compelling terms: America should banish forever the attitudes of the monarchical Presidency that stakes the un-American claim that any President can unilaterally and secretly violate our Constitution, abrogate our Bill of Rights, refuse to faithfully execute our laws, show contempt for our traditions, and mock the Geneva Convention through sickening and self-destructive acts of torture?

Go right into the belly of the beast and use the bully pulpit of your crediblity to state in ringing terms that Americans must never be bullied or intimidated by fear to surrender our rights, or abandon our values, and that such actions are not only un-American but hurt our troops, our security, our appeal in the battle of ideas and our moral crediblity around the world.

Mr. Vice President I urge you to run, but I urge to elevate the politics of our country whether or not you ultimately run for the Presidency. We are the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy in the nation of Washington and Lincoln, and we are beset by crises and dangers because we have strayed dangerously far from where we came.

What I propose is a series of perhaps five major speeches on great issues of our time that offer real leadership, uplifting alternatives and high standard guideposts for where America is, and where American should be.

These speeches can be followed by limited but orchestrated television appearances, where you can lay out a vision for America, a plan to achieve that vision, and the spirit to stake the claim for our country to regain the moral and political leadership, for a nation that yearns to be lifted, in a world that hungers for America to again be a beacon, for a generation of young people that awaits a call to action to serve our higher aspirations.

Reigniting the Dream again; for Middle East peace; for social justice and hope; for patriotic energy policies of independence; for rebuilding our military while we restore leadership for our diplomacy; for defending our freedoms while we protect our planet from pollution; for reviving the national unity of Eisenhower at Normandy and our shared values of Jesus on the Mount and Hillel in our hearts.

To Vice President Gore and all who dream of leading our country: the danger is great, the cause is just, the stakes are high, the time is now, the moment has come, and the choice is yours.

Lead us.