Thinking Big

27 February 2007 |permalink | email article

For Al Gore, who likes to say that he used to be president, the last two days beginning with Oscar Sunday have been both a vindication and a victory. 

Vindication was the return of his political good name after being screwed by a Supreme Court decision in 2000, which ignored the popular vote backing Gore, to award the presidency to George W. Bush with Florida’s electoral votes.

Victory was his “An Inconvenient Truth” about climate change that became a film that won Academy Awards for best documentary and best song.

Gore, with the actor Leonardo DiCaprio, took the stage to make a strong case to a worldwide audience about the need to solve the climate crisis. “It is not a political issue, it’s a moral issue.”

Gore’s clever “My Fellow Americans” rhetoric, while not intended to be political, was immediately seized upon by print media, bloggers and talk shows as a sign that he still might emerge as a late entry in the presidential race.

Lost in a media rush to deadline was that Gore rejected such speculation, flatly telling the Associated Press, “I do not have plans to become a candidate for office again.”
He made clear that he was dedicating all his efforts to pressuring governments to act on climate-crisis issues.

That journey begins March 21 in Washington where he will be a star witness at Congressional hearings, much to the discomfort of the White House.

Early this month Gore announced in Los Angeles his plan for a global “Live Earth” day of “mega-concerts” this summer, to be held simultaneously on seven continents, with 100 of the world’s most popular musical acts to promote awareness about climate change.

“Is being president better than this? speculated Simon Rosenberg, head of the New Democratic Network, to The Washington Post.

Becoming an instant global rock star would seem far more compelling than slogging through the early caucuses and primaries next winter.

 

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