Congratulations to Vice President Al Gore on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier today. According to the committee who awarded Gore with the prize, he "is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted" to battle climate change.
Gore has promised to donate his monetary prize to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.
One story that is likely going to be rehashed now that Gore has won this award is whether or not he will reconsider a bid for the US Presidency. The DraftGore movement, based out of San Francisco where Gore lives part-time, has reenergized lately. They've collected almost 200,000 supporter signatures, and, last week, ran an ad in the NYTimes urging Gore to make another run for office.
In the past, Gore has been somewhat evasive in answering the question, saying that he did not see himself running for President, but refusing to rule out the possibility. Now that the spotlight is on him, we'll see if that promise stands.
Again, kudos Vice President Gore, an award well deserved.
I highly encourage everyone to read this, an excerpt from Al Gore's new book. I was in the Senate gallery just before the Iraq invasion; I heard Robert Byrd's speech, and the questions that the former VP raises in this excerpt are ones I've been asking since then.
I know a Gore run is unlikely. Reading this, though...I can't help but hope for one.
I like Al Gore. He's a nice guy, obviously very intelligent, a good politician, very experienced, and pretty funny. He also made a great movie and was smart enough to be against Iraq from the start, and he probably has more domestic, foreign policy, legislative, and executive experience than anyone currently running for President. Hell, he was even elected President already!
But I just can't get excited about him. Maybe it's because while I certainly believe that we need to seriously protect our environment and invest in renewable energy, the environment and global warming is not among the top issues for me.
But on a more important note, why would anyone want Al Gore to be President, not that he wouldn't be a very good one, but what urge do you have for him to run, say over someone like Gary Hart or Mario Cuomo or any of the older, more experienced, smart, and great old hands of the Democratic party who have been out of it for a while. Why Al Gore?
Seriously, tell me.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are in a cat fight! As Kramer would say, maybe they'll start kissing!
Kucinich auditioned in Nevada (make sure you pronounce it right or you'll be Stephanopoulosed) yesterday to be Spinning-Instructor-in-Chief.
Mike Gravel has a $250 suit. When asked whether it was made by American workers, he said it was made in the land of has-beens and long-shots.
Bill Richardson wants Democrats to run a positive campaign. Didn't he get this memo?
Al Gore will win the Oscar for Best Documentary on Sunday. When asked what he will wear, he said it would be a carbon-neutral Gucci see-through dress.
Prince Harry wants to go to Abu Ghraib prison when he gets to Iraq. He hears the sex there is kinkier than at Buckingham palace.
That's a wrap!
No, I'm not calling for Al Gore to run for President in 2008; though I think he was rightfully elected in 2000, but that's a matter for another time.
I saw Al Gore's new movie, An Inconvenient Truth, last weekend and I was inspired! Al Gore is witty, funny, smart, and prescient. Everyone should go and see the movie.
But what the movie tells us and has informed me is that we must think about long term problems now and address them before it's too late.
Too many of our politicians think in 2, 4, and 6 year terms and don't think in 20, 50, and 100 year terms, as they should. Climate change is real, and if we don't address it now, we'll pay for it very seriously in fifty years.
Republicans should be with us on this issue. This is pure science. Last year, a random sample of 928 peer-reviewed studies on climate change reported a unanimity that the planet is warming, and carbon emissions from human activity is the primary cause. A vast majority of scientists also believe the effects are accelerating and we have a ten year minimum at most before the effects of global warming become nearly irreversible.
Al Gore has a website, climatecrisis.net, that provides information on climate change and ways we can personally, at the individual level, and socially, at the national and global level to reverse the effects of global warming. Let's begin to save our planet, and our lives, and the human race, by demanding that all Democratic presidential candidates in 2008 commit to reducing carbon emissions around the world and help them get elected President in 2008. We can do it!
