The Al Gore Veep Talk
Posted on June 13, 2008 at 7:28 amCould a Veep nod from Obama be the way back into politics for Al Gore:
[C]learly, the vice presidency has become more important since he held it. He could have the administration’s energy and environmental portfolios and use that position to achieve some of the goals that have been dearest to him. He was probably right to stay out of the presidential race this year because he judged that he couldn’t win it. But he hasn’t said he’s not interested in high office. This could be his way back in.
The interesting thing about all this is that back when Al Gore would have had to decide to run, Hillary Clinton looked unbeatable. Al Gore may have insisted that he was through with electoral politics but the man came within a hair’s breadth of the Presidency in 2000.
The reason he demurred may have been as simple as him not wanting to go up against the Clinton machine. Now that that machine is dead, the forces that would have been arrayed against Al Gore in Democratic politics no longer exist. While he might be in no itching hurry to take a job he already had, the simple fact is that if Al Gore wants ever to be President ticketing up with Obama may be the only path. If Obama wins, then 2012 is out for him. In 2016 whoever Obama does pick for Veep will be set up for a run.
If Gore wants to be President in his lifetime taking the plunge with Obama may be his only hope. The only question is: Does he want it and will Barack Obama be willing to cede power to a man whose profile would necessitate an almost co-presidency, ala the co-presidency that almost was with Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford?
All of this, of course, is predicated on an Obama win. If Gore believes that Obama is destined to lose, the very best thing he could do for his future political prospects is exactly what he is doing — nothing.
Comments
16 Responses to “The Al Gore Veep Talk”
Poor Al Could Not Win TENNESSEE
McCain would slaughter him on his warming profiteering and hypocrisy, not to mention the demonstrable lies. He brings nothing to the ticket but baggage, absurb notion. If the talk is real it is floated by Obama’s folks in an effort to kiss ass, he is not on the short list.
“The only question is: Does he want it and will Barack Obama be willing to cede power”
I’d say the question is more at why would Obama want to hang a millstone around his neck. Gore is hardly “Change we can believe in.”
Please! It’s hair’s breadth,
I think I speak for all Republicans when I say: Bring it on!
Why in the world would Gore be interested in the vice-presidency? He has the sweetest deal in the world right now: awards, the applause of millions, money, and the warm runny feeling that comes from knowing that you’re Saving the Planet. For him, being VP (or, for that matter, being president) would be a demotion. After all, why be pope if you can be Jesus?
So we have a suggestion that the guy who is the change we can all believe in may pick for a running mate the guy who wants to stop the climate change he believes in.
Al Gore would have won the primary hands down. At the time he won his Nobel prize he was the Left’s equivalent of a saint. The bumper stickers (re-elect Gore) write themselves and would have been like throwing red meat to the left. Add to that a few simple statements of how he would have used 9/11 to push a new energy scheme that would have kept us out of Iraq and gotten us off of oil would have appealed to a vast segment of the society.
Al Gore had a lock on the Democratic ticket and I’d say he would have had a pretty easy run at the Presidency.
The Florida debacle changed him. He just doesn’t want it and I seriously doubt he’d go for second fiddle to someone else.
There’s an OBVIOUS vice-presidential candidate for Barack Obama — a man with stature in the Democratic Party, a man with experience and a proven track record in domestic and world affairs, a man who shares Obama’s political beliefs and temperament and competence …
Jimmy Carter!
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Al Gore went to Hollywood, not Cal Tech.
Climate Change We Can Believe In!©
Sounds like a winnah! An Oscar© winnah, that is…
This is a terrible idea. What would Al Gore gain by running again as second banana? He has money, a Nobel, a pulpit and all the voice jobs he could want on “Futurama.” And he doesn’t have to show results.
Let me be the first: That’s not the Al Gore that Obama knew.
I would like nothing more than to see our Puffy National Embarrassment Al Gore be trounced yet again.
Al Gore would clinch the Presidency for Obama as his running mate. McCain could fold up his tent and go hiking in the Grand Canyon - might be better for him than the Presidency post-Bush. WHoever wins, its a rough time coming. Fasten your seat belts!
Al Gore is too Chicken to Debate Global Warming, what would he do if he were the VP candidate and someone brought that up?