Bush Victim Zero
“Are you familiar with my friend Al Gore?” - Bender
One of initial consequences of Al Gore’s rolling Live Earth series of concerts last month was to finally bury any speculation that he is going to run for president again. Prior to that he’d denied that he has any plans to run, but that didn’t stop the speculation. To get the byline brigade to accept it would’ve required a torrent of verbal self flagellation and absolute denial that he was unwilling to provide. But he isn’t running, and both he and us will probably be better off because of it.
Setting aside John McCain (and to a lesser extent, Ann Richards), Gore was the first victim of Bush the Younger’s political machine. Many names have since been added to that list, from the famous and formerly credible like Colin Powell to the all but anonymous ones that are in the New York Times every day along with their age, rank and hometown. Because of his prime place on that sad list, Gore has become someone on which people can pin a lot of hope and regret, as exemplified by his Saturday Night Live monologue from last spring. That sense of regret, and a lot of people wishing we had a mulligan for 2000, makes speculation about his candidacy inevitable but no less silly.
He’s not running for president because he knows that as soon as his candidacy became real all of the fond, glowing coverage he gets now will immediately devolve back to the childish level of “I invented the Internet”. In the last couple of years he has very skillfully extricated himself from the caricature of a pathetic, wooden loser. Any candidacy that didn’t end at 1600 would destroy all that work. He also knows, first hand, just how limited the power of elected office can be. Even if he jumped through all the hoops, made all the distasteful compromises and wound up at 1600 he’d immediately have other issues weighing him down and literally millions of ways to get distracted or slowed by something immaterial to his environmentalism. He also knows that winning the 2008 election will not erase the 2000 election and all that’s happened since.
Instead of another run at an office that he probably doesn’t really want, he has dedicated himself to what he considers most important: environmentalism in general and global warming in particular. He has no direct power, but his influence on this one issue is so great that he can affect policy. As long as he keeps doing what he’s been doing no Democratic president could advance environmental or climate policy without his blessing. Even a Republican president (other than the current one) would find it hard going against Gore on environmental policy. That is real power. He was way ahead of the curve on climate change, so we know that he’s patient and knows how to plan long term. He cares about the planet and he is now in a position to do good, meaningful work on its behalf.
As an added bonus, he has hit on something so potentially huge that it could radically change his, ahem, legacy. He is the leading figure associated with environmentalism and climate change and if, decades from now, we look back on these years as the time when climate change started being taken seriously, Gore will be able to claim more credit than any other individual. His efforts on the environment have the potential to bump the losing scrum in Florida from the first paragraph of his obituary. Being the Barry Goldwater of the left, loved for his ideals, hated for losing, probably isn’t much fun and this is a way out from that.
Gore’s foresight about global warming and his growing reputation for integrity and honesty are moving his appeal beyond the left and towards the center. He’s been limited thus far because as long as Bush the Younger is in office the public perception of Gore will remain tied to Florida and the 2000 election. But when 1600 has a new occupant we’ll be freed of that constant reminder that things didn’t have to be this way and Gore can finish rehabilitating himself.
Even an outfit as relentlessly inept as the Democrats have been in recent years probably can’t lose in 2008, but any new Administration will have to substantively deal with climate change, denial is no longer an option. Some kind of action will have to be taken and Gore is going to be a big part of it. If he wanted to become the first Secretary for the Environment a new Administration would be crazy to reject him. From within government or without he’ll have unequaled influence on the one issue he cares most about and for him that is better than the presidency.
Gore isn’t running for office, but he’s not going away either. He’s going to be our environmental steward and public scold. For that job, he’s the perfect candidate.
