Run Al, Run!
The news is breaking in Europe that Al Gore won the Nobel Prize for Peace this year. Good for him. Better yet, good for this country. He should run for President. Gore has long been my dark-horse favorite for the nomination, a candidate who doesn't need a long speech or a DC consultant to explain why he's running for Preisdent -- just five little words: "Let's fix this goddamn thing!" Alternately, he could just show this video.
Of course, Gore has been getting it right for a while. Not just on the two preeminent issues of our time -- Iraq and global warming -- but on a host of policies since his time in the Senate: environmental protection, the Internet (yes, he really did help get it started), free trade, welfare reform, streamlining government. Even those ideas for which he was most ridiculed now stand out as rather prescient. Remember that "lockbox" for payroll tax revenues? Might not have been a bad idea as our budget deficit drops to "only" $160 billion this year. He was ludicrously ridiculed for sighing and being "exasperated" in this debates with Governor Shrub in 2000. But, Christ, is there anyone not exasperated with our President these days?
Run, Al, run. Hillary doesn't have this locked up -- not by a long shot. You've got instant name ID and credibility with the party. You've lost the boring robot talk and have found your fire. You could raise $10 million in 10 days. You're a New Democrat beloved by the nutroots -- how improbable is that? Given these dark times, the press would actually have to talk about issues this time around, not whether you misstated whether you toured the 1996 floods in Texas with the Director of FEMA or the Deputy Director of FEMA. And you can run circles around Mitt and Fred and Rudy and the rest of the laugh-out-loud GOP circus. Don't tell me it's "demeaning" or "devaluing" to run for office again or you can do more as a spokesmodel than a President. That's the height of cynicism. Eight years ago, a plurality of Americans (and probably Floridians) wanted you to be President. Following up the world-historical disaster that has been W, that number could only have gone up. So tuck away that Oscar (no one really likes Hollywood), and wire that $1 million from Norway into a 2008 campaign account. I can see the bumper stickers already, enunciated with a thick Tennessee drawl: "Al Told You So."
Of course, Gore has been getting it right for a while. Not just on the two preeminent issues of our time -- Iraq and global warming -- but on a host of policies since his time in the Senate: environmental protection, the Internet (yes, he really did help get it started), free trade, welfare reform, streamlining government. Even those ideas for which he was most ridiculed now stand out as rather prescient. Remember that "lockbox" for payroll tax revenues? Might not have been a bad idea as our budget deficit drops to "only" $160 billion this year. He was ludicrously ridiculed for sighing and being "exasperated" in this debates with Governor Shrub in 2000. But, Christ, is there anyone not exasperated with our President these days?
Run, Al, run. Hillary doesn't have this locked up -- not by a long shot. You've got instant name ID and credibility with the party. You've lost the boring robot talk and have found your fire. You could raise $10 million in 10 days. You're a New Democrat beloved by the nutroots -- how improbable is that? Given these dark times, the press would actually have to talk about issues this time around, not whether you misstated whether you toured the 1996 floods in Texas with the Director of FEMA or the Deputy Director of FEMA. And you can run circles around Mitt and Fred and Rudy and the rest of the laugh-out-loud GOP circus. Don't tell me it's "demeaning" or "devaluing" to run for office again or you can do more as a spokesmodel than a President. That's the height of cynicism. Eight years ago, a plurality of Americans (and probably Floridians) wanted you to be President. Following up the world-historical disaster that has been W, that number could only have gone up. So tuck away that Oscar (no one really likes Hollywood), and wire that $1 million from Norway into a 2008 campaign account. I can see the bumper stickers already, enunciated with a thick Tennessee drawl: "Al Told You So."
Labels: Elections
posted by Earl Warren at 2:05 AM
7 Comments:
I thought it was Sweden.
You know, I thought so too, but then I saw that the announcement was in Oslo, and it being 2 AM, I didn't feel like doing further research. Is it possible Norway and Sweden merged recently?
Sweden and Norway are one people with essentially one language, but they have two governments.
Apparently the Peace prize is the exception and the rest are handed out / announced in Stockholm. The reason for this is that a committee of the Norwegian parliament selects the Nobel Peace Prize, where as the others are selected by various Swedish academic groups. It is not clear why Nobel made it this way.
And not to bust up the Al Gore love fest, but what does global warming have to do with "work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses?"
Thanks for the clarification.
As for the connection to "peace," the full risks of global warming seem to include the submersion of low-lying countries (or parts thereof), the drastic reshaping of drought and monsoon patterns, disruption of agriculture and resulting famines, the reshuffling of property values, the loss of species, less access to fresh water for certain areas, and outbreaks of pestilence and plague -- all of which have been known to cause a regional war or two (or two hundred) over the course of human history.
In fact, I think some of the latest anthropology studies hold that, ideology aside, the cause of most wars is either 1) a surfeit of young men or 2) a dispute over access to natural resources.
Granted, that's a one- or two-step inferential link, but if Gore made even a small contribution to forestalling that possible (and scary) future, that's a rather remarkable achievement.
This is shameful. There are far more deserving people. People who are actually doing something for peace. The only reason Gore got the award was because everyone hates Bush. Hell, Bono is more deserving of the nobel than Gore.
At least they didn't give it to the Yasser Arafats of the world this time.
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