Is Gore Energized to Join the Obama Cabinet?

Al Gore is flying to Chicago tomorrow to meet with Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Is it just to chat up and advise the new Democratic president and vice president? Or is there something more at work?
Obama is reportedly considering creating an energy czar. Gore would be the logical pick. As czar he would be able to help oversee the Transportation department, the Interior department, and the Environmental Protection Agency. He would have a powerful voice over everything from mileage standards to conservation requirements. Even as the Bush administration continues to try to gut regulations such as restrictions on mining and drilling in Utah's most pristine national parks, it must be awfully tempting for Gore to have the chance to put rhetoric into action.

His warnings about global warming, ridiculed when he first delved into the subject decades ago as a Congressman, have proven prophetic. George H.W. Bush even mocked him as "Ozone Al" in 1992. Now who's laughing?

During the Clinton administration, Gore devoted much of his energies to reinventing government and foreign policy. Now that his political career no longer hangs in the balance, Gore would be liberated to do what he believes is the right thing. As energy czar, he'd have the chance this time to reinvent, among other things, Detroit, which is sorely in need of reinventing.

For Obama the choice would only have upsides. The Democratic base, which is chafing at his cabinet choices, would be jubilant. If Obama is going to ransack the Clinton administration for advisors, then Gore seems like a logical move. He's the biggest name Obama could land. It would, you could even say, be an electrifying choice.

Comments

[Fribbs]

Al Gore has the portfolio and cache to be a great international ambassador of good will for the President-elect. Watch for that ... he will NOT take a paid staff position, no matter the rank, in this Administration or any administration. Gore is a statesman who can do much good for President-elect Obama. The President-elect recognizes Gore's "ambassadorial" skills and will call upon him to lend his talents when crisis or conflict arise. Gore wants an "elder" statesman -- volunteer -- role in helping the President ....

You read it here

[JuniorNorman]

Gore is too much a UN builder because we need UN energy police and global carbon tax(NOT!)

[SiberianOb]

DOE is where Gore could be most effective -- that's where new green technology is on a small scale currently being developed, and where the scientific know-how ALREADY IS for turning currently small-scale green research into a massive new push to develop green science, if only we give them that mandate.

I'm pretty sure that Gore knows that -- I'm less sure whether Obama does or not, given how he's not stifled the talk about down-grading DOE.

If Obama wants to seriously entice Gore back into working for the government, he should combine DOE with the other stuff he'll offer to have his "energy czar" managing.

Get America's best physicists, chemists, and engineers -- in other words, the DOE scientists -- devoting their full-time efforts to developing kick-ass green technology, and the results will be amazing.

[vjoseph]

I find this quite hypocritical of you to suggest that Al Gore will be a welcomed member of the Cabinet for liberals, yet you seem to have a major problem with the other "Clintonistas". I find this very very hypocritical

[JimBozo]

There are so many people being nominated for "Czars" of one thing or another, I can see a need to have someone in charge of them all. How about a "Czar Czar"?

The use of that term, originally applied to the first baseball commissioner, Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, in the 1920s, I believe, has become so hackneyed that its continued usage denotes a severe dearth of imagination in the media. Could we just get back to the original terminology, and call these overseers "Commisioners" or something? Or if we absolutely have to borrow Russian terminology, how about "Comissar"? Works well with that "holding feet to the fire" phrase which is also being currently worked to death.

[Rudyabdul]

If Gore dosen't take it, Ed Begley Jr. would love to take the job.

[dfranz]

I don't think anyone knows how hard the election in 2000 was for Al Gore. He litteraly had the presidency stolen from him and lost his heart for political office. I think Gore would be willing to be an advisor but I doubt he wants a cabinet position. He already has a mission that he is performing wonderfully and probably has more influence on climate change globally than he would as Energy Secretary.

[Fez]

Why would Al Gore want to ever again work for an American president in ANY capacity? He already has the respect and ear of the rest of the world, so why would he want to join a bunch of third-rate hacks defending a failed stategy of greed and ignorance? Gore has moved on and up and the US should be glad that at least one of its citizens has the respect and admiration of the rest of the world. Mr. Obama should consult with Gore and seek his advice, but if Gore is tied to this administration in an official capacity, he will lose the independence that allows him to work for true global solutions.

[SagaciousFoo]

Mr. Gore was directly asked recently if he would accept a position in the Obama Cabinet, and he unequivocally said he would refuse if asked.

http://current.com/items/89504481/current_presents_digg_dialogg_al_gore_on_epa.htm

[Sundialsvc4]

Oh, leave the man alone.

Al Gore would know perfectly well that his would only be a "symbolic" choice. He has already applied his statesmanship toward the goal of climate-change awareness more thoroughly than any "guv'mint" official ever has. And he's sitting on Boards of Directors that have made him even-more comfortably rich.

No... you had your chance with Al Gore. You stole a Presidency from him, and he moved on while the country plunged into a flaming pit of hell that it still hasn't figured out to walk out of today. Don't blame that on him. And don't try to draft him into symbolic posts.

[dwmulenex]

Gore would be the latest in the Obama charm bracelet, but couldn't do much in the current economic environment. The "business as usual" rebuilding of the nation 's roads, bridges, energy grid are going to suck the life out of the hundreds of billions needed for revamping not only energy sources, but everything from buildings to appliances that use energy. Between the "we're sitting on the taxpayers' money banks" and the "no can do" fossil fuel industries and car manufacturers, we need a fleet of high value demo projects to show what can be done, beginning with the nation's most populous urban areas. We need to tax gasoline, tax gaz guzzling cars, but also to revamp our building codes to require more energy efficient and envronmentally friendly materials and computer managed systems in everything from hospitals, big office buidlings, shopping malls, and family homes and apartment buildings. We need urban transit that excludes the dangerous big SUVs and makes small electric cars the norm for commuters, who can plug them in and recharhe them at work parking lots. So far Obama is on track to gve another 25-50 years of fossil fuel intensive infrastructures. They will make any green jobs/industry program a useless afterthought. Building greener cars for a fossil brown world is no step forward, and Gore knows it. I wish Obama did.

[rock2casbah]

Since this writer declares that

"The Democratic base, which is chafing at his cabinet choices, would be jubilant. "

I better get busy "chafing".

Who are you speaking for? Just clarify please.

[musselmanm]

Why can't the internet sites we all read start a draft Gore for our Czar campaign.
We could blog on open government.com.
The will of the people is at times noted when our voice gets loud enough.
We could really use the confidence VP Gore could give to our citizens that have now come to know that he was right all along.
If we are all motivated and stay commited to improve our country and our world, we will be living during the most important and inspirational time in our American history.
Learn our history and become inspired by the great patriotic and concerned citizens in America, especially our founding fathers,

[TommyMcCarthy]

P.S. Talk about "The Best and the Brightest"!!

Too good to be true?
tm

[TommyMcCarthy]

Wouldn't that be fantastic!!

Putting aside domestic politics for the moment.....imagine the reaction overseas.......


In 100+ languages ....something like
"America is FINALLY going to get serious about climate change and energy independence"
....would be heard.

There aren't alot of names (beside Obama's own) that could INSTANTLY produce a surge in confidence in U.S. leadership. In this area Gore's is certainly one of them!!

tm