Here comes Al Gore

In February of this year I wrote a piece that talked about the flawed Presidential campaigns of the two Democratic frontrunners, Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Hillary has too much baggage as well as stratospheric negative perception ratings and Obama plainly has too little experience to be considered anything but a lightweight.

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I ended my column with the following:

"The real comer for the Dems in 2008 is Al Gore. Even though Al doesn't appear to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, he has managed to re-invent himself often enough to where he has finally struck a chord with both Democrat and Republican voters through his breathless piece of disaster porn, An Inconvenient Truth, which will likely win an academy Award this year, despite the polar ice caps' continued survival. For all those media mavens who are throwing their money behind Obama or Hillary, there will be little or no embarrassment, as they seamlessly segue from slobbering adoration on the former in favor of their new darling Al. Remember, you read it here first."

Now that Gore has won the Nobel booby prize, it appears that pundits for both the former mainstream media as well as bloggers everywhere are awakening to the possibility that Gore might make a bid for the Presidency. And why shouldn't he? Given the global warming hysteria, a Gore bid for the White House could be a cakewalk, particularly in light of the other candidates' failings. Gore doesn't have the baggage that Hillary is lugging around and, having held office as Vice-President, he certainly has enough gravitas to make a serious run. Unlike Obama, Gore has all the experience both nationally as well as internationally to make him a serious contender. More importantly, Gore would do better against the current field of Republican candidates than either Hillary or Obama. The Republicans' slate of presidential candidates is not formidable, to be kind. Rudy Giuliani did well as mayor of New York, particularly during the 9/11 emergency, but in areas such as foreign policy Rudy is a babe in the woods. In addition his personal life has been somewhat of a disaster in that no divorced president has ever occupied the White House. Perhaps McCain comes closest in stature to being able to make the grade, but my guess is that he would have trouble even running against Hillary, given his unpopular support of the Iraq war and his status as a party maverick. The Democrats don't know it yet, but if and when Al Gore decides that maybe he'd like to be president, they will have a sure winner on hand. While Hillary could win her party's nomination (if Gore decides not to enter the race), her 40%+ negative perception rating and the numerous skeletons hanging in her closet will make her a tough candidate to elect. Gore, on the other hand is idolized by millions around the world, despite the inconvenient untruths in his film and his book that were recently cited by a British court case that sought to present views opposing Gore's in British schools. But, hey, Al Gore has never shied away from telling whoppers such as he being the inventor of the Internet and he and wife, Tipper, being the people on which Erich Segal's book, Love Story is based. I've always thought that a sure sign Gore was going to make a run for the Presidency was him going on a diet and losing weight. Now I'm not so sure. What with both the Oscar and the Nobel Peace Prize on his wall, all he has to do to win is show up.