What About It, Al?

I know it's not a great job. And I know you didn't like it the first time. But that was because of Bill and Hill. They won't be there. I will.

Here's the deal: we'll redefine the job. I know, I know -- everyone says this, but I mean it. I'll throw every power in my possession behind you and together we'll attack global warming, save the environment, and create a twenty-first century energy policy. We'll be partners in every way.

In return, you'll be vice president of the United States and everything I need in a running mate:

You're white.

You're experienced.

You're older than I am and younger than John McCain.

You're qualified to be president, and yet I have no fear of being upstaged by you.

You were right on Iraq.

You're from the South.

You have an Oscar, an Emmy and a Nobel Prize.

And more than any politician, you're an exemplar of change because you changed yourself.

What about it, Al?

Comments

[KPinSEA]

You're white ... you're experienced ... you were right on Iraq ....

... and you lost to a completely beatable clod the last time you ran!

Al has looked so much happier out of the elective process, saying what he really thinks and doing worthwhile work. What kind of cruel, sadistic person would want to put him back in the box of electoral politics .... especially when he WASN'T THAT GOOD AT IT.

You'll make a great Secretary of Energy, Al .... but don't you go chasing votes. You deserve better.

[liberalissima]

KPinSEA, you as the rest of all the "led by the nose" americans, Gore did not loose to the clod,
the clod stole the elections. Grow up and listen to the real news not Faux of course. Remember
the clod and vicious Cheenney, Rove and the rest of the axes of evil gang at the white house.

[jsinclair]

Gore has been a non-presence during one of the most remarkable election years in our history. Even when it was over, and he endorsed, he still seemed "above it all".

He's good on the environment, of course, but still one of the 2 most boring speakers on the planet. There is such a deep bench of great NEW faces for national office this year. Why on earth would we want to go back to someone who reminds us of the 90s and who conceded in 2000 when he didn't really lose?

Gore could be Obama's special environmental envoy in Kyoto...or UN ambassador...or head of the EPA., etc. But he is completely NOT necessary for VP and for many of us progressives actually detracts from the ticket.

Been there, lost that.

I'm hoping for Wesley Clark.

[research]

You nailed it. Al Bore is a great guy, but pure anti charisma.

[RobtBrock]

Hasn't this poor guy been punished enough?

[Yaa]

Ms. Ephron is pulling our legs.

Who (with even minimum brainpower) would want a second chance at being second?

[thatvisionthing]

Somebody who got burned being first and yet still feels that promise unfulfilled. Someone who "invented the internet" and knows ring architecture works better than top down. Someone who wants to do the best he can with what he's got -- in To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch said that was who fine folk were. I think Al is fine.

If we can just get past top down and start looking at the task at hand -- a fantastic challenge! A worthwhile challenge! So necessary! If we could all pitch in again and strive for something, together... instead of preemptively looking for and making enemies everywhere. We are preempting only peace and prosperity and liberty, justice and brotherhood for all. Oh, man, Al, come ON!!

[Shake-A-Spear]

Nora: Al Gore is history. As for "gravitas" -- to me, as to others I believe, there's something about his Nobel Prize and his Oscar that's comic. It's not like Einstein winning a Nobel or Jack Nicholson winning an Oscar. In Gore's case it's Dudley Do Good bringing home from school a gold star or two on his report card. His personality is still that of a cigar store Indian,
Who's your second chice, Nora?

[Danny]

Shake-A-Spear -- what did Al Gore do to you when you were in grade school? Go back to your room, and use a hankie to wipe your nose --- RIGHT NOW!!

[RickO]

HuffPost's Pick

Einstein won the Nobel prize in physics for his work on the phto-electric effect, which was important because he proved the quantization of light before the science quantum mechanics existed. Al Gore won the peace prize for bringing global attention to a global existential threat in the face of fierce global stupidity. He won the Oscar for somehow making a power point presentation interesting. He most certainly deserves both awards.

[iheardthisbefore]

You obviously do not know/have followed the career of the Senator from Tennessee.

[jsarets]

Al Gore is one of the very few viable (and that's a stretch) VP candidates that could (and would) upstage Obama. Political junkies often forget that low-information voters have formed much stronger opinions on Gore than they have on Obama.

Obama values his politics over his platform. He wants a VP the reflects his vision of a political party based on bottom-up organization and a message of collective empowerment -- someone who can play the part of Barack Obama in his absence.

Howard Dean or John Edwards could fit the bill, but he'd probably prefer a corporate leader who deeply understands the Connected Age. How about Google's Eric Schmidt?

[Meggie]

all good points, and something for Gore to consider.
Cheney made VP powerful albiet in a negative way, but Gore can use that enhanced power to forward his agenda for a better America - turn it into a positive. he's a visionary with great ideas for the environment, and look at how we all like his views for the internet that all Americans could access.
it would be a plus all the way around.

[Danny]

Good point, Meggie. Both Obama and Al Gore would be able to use the enhanced executive powers to do good instead of evil. Eventually those powers will be restored to what they should be, but in the meantime, full speed ahead for sanity, reconciliation, and restoration of our good name around the world.

[thatvisionthing]

Power -- huh. There really is no greater power than that of ideas. Al Gore doesn't need any authority of office at all, he just needs to be in the room sharing ideas. Obama is known for listening to all sides and arguments before deciding, I want Al there making his case. What better position than VP? It's totally open for Al to define however he wants to. And in four or eight years I'd be delighted if he ran for president. He's younger than Hillary. And there's nobody more qualified to step in and BE president. No better insurance policy for Barack's presidency than to have someone more qualified and more left as VP. Say it again: Al is younger than Hillary, March 1948 vs October 1947.

[StephenDedalus82]

Should we really risk tarnishing the reputation of the world's foremost ambassador on the world's biggest problem by having him dive back into the muck of politics?

[AJ39]

I don't think we'll have to take that risk cuz Al's not going to take it.

Mr. Gore has been right about many important things, but would you trust someone who picked Joe Lieberman as his running mate? I wouldn't!

[barackobama4prez]

let's face it, the veepstakes is not going to convince most to vote for the NOMINEES. they can just add or detract from the ticket. but yes, I think AL would be a good pick but there are also others.

[davefromames]

Hello!
The words "Vice President" are nowhere to found in the XXII amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This is valid. There is no prohibition to another VP term.

[jeersforfears]

Gore has God status with liberals but is strongly criticized by others (with a long list of good reasons why.) He was not "right on Iraq," he merely followed the party line. The final story on Iraq has yet to be written, and don't rule out a surprise (according to you) ending.

Also, who does winning an Oscar, emmy, and Nobel prize qualify anyone to be vice president?

[LittleTart]

Winning those awards represent a wide set of experiences and excellence in a variety of fields. No one is saying an Oscar or an Emmy qualify everyone to be VP, but when creating a resume you list your experiences because the people reading your resume are looking at the full spectrum of your experience and what you are bringing to the table. If you don't think those are experiences of any value, thats different than claiming those are not valuable experiences.

[Delphine]

You are completely wrong. Being agains the war was not the "party line". Al spoke out vehemently against the IWR, while most dems (including Kerry and Edwards, who were the party's standard bearers a year later) voted for it.

Al is qualified to be vice president because - hello? - he was already vice president, not because he won some awards. In fact, he's more qualified to be president than either McCain OR Obama, since he's actually been in executive office (8 years) and was in the House and Senate for many more years than Obama has been in the Senate. He went to Viet Nam (yeah, he did, look it up) and rather than coming back and dumping his wife for the chippy on the side (like McCain), he has stayed with his sweetheart since the beginning.

If you can list those reasons why others criticize him, bring them on. I'm sure we can knock them down easily . . .

[castlerider]

You're absolutely wrong. He never endorsed the invasion of Iraq in any way, shape or form.

He's not just highly awarded as a citizen, he was also a Vietnam veteran, which is a lot more then Bush, who hid behind daddy's trousers so as not to go, could ever amount to.

Who cares about the critics? thats what most people will say as they fill in the card to vote for Obama.

The right has become increasingly irrelevant, thanks to the criminals in the government, and more then likely, people like you who voted for them.

[manumoka]

Gore had his chance. 8 years and he did nothing as VP for the environment, and that wasn't because of Clinton. He failed, and we should admit it.

[mattius]

the fact is, during his tenure as VP, Al Gore did push for environmentally conscious legislation and was really not supported by his colleagues in the house or senate, let alone the Exec. branch. I would say he was really out ahead of this issue in a way that was just too progressive for a leader body that didn't get the threat global warming was and is. He's my hero. And it says something that he even tried.

[julianna]

Nora - He's term limited, get over it.

[puffhost]

22nd Amendment applies only to Presidents, not Vice Presidents.

[LewisR]

Al Gore is almost at god status now. Why in the world would you want to bring him back down to the mud of politics? He'd be a fool.

[[e-mail]]

I agree. The ticket I would have loved is Gore-Obama, not the other way around. Ask him to put himself through another campaign, as number 2, after he won the Presidency of the United States, and Bush's cronies stole it from him, it's too much. Gore deserves better.

[trollsbwild]

NEVER HAPPEN!