It has long been said that the United States is indeed a land of opportunity where anyone can grow up to be president. And when the country was within three years of its 200th anniversary, Gerald Ford came along and proved it. In the smallest landslide in history where he won no votes and carried no states, Gerald Ford was sworn in as the president of the United States. The fact that anyone "can" become president does not necessarily mean that everyone "wants" to be president.
Last week, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming. The announcement that he had won the once prestigious award was the most exciting thing that took place in Norway since that morning when the sun rose in the east. Ever since this certainty actually took place, speculation has been rife about Gore entering the presidential race, knocking off Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination and going on to become the 44th president of the United States. But the question has to be asked--why would he want to settle for being just another world leader?
Sure he was interested in the presidency. He ran for the nomination in 1988 and lost out to Michael Dukakis. He only sat out the 1992 primaries after his son was seriously injured in a car accident, and, of course he was the Democratic Party nominee in 2000. None of this means that he wants to become president now. What would be his reason for wanting the job? There are a multitude of reasons why people seek high political office, but none of them seem to apply to the Al Gore of 2007.
First, there is the desire to win for the sake of winning. But, Al can always say, "been there, done that". Gore won the popular vote in 2000 and according to the Democrats he actually won the presidency and would have assumed the office if those evil Republicans hadn't disenfranchised poor, black, Democratic Party voters in Florida. Gore doesn't have to run to prove he can win.
He obviously wouldn't want to seek the presidency for the money; if Al were president he would have to take a pay cut and his presidential duties would cut into the time he has for all his carbon trading, whereby he is currently raking in millions and millions. From a pure monetary point of view, running and winning the 2008 presidential race would require him to take a severe financial hit.
Surely no one ever wants to be president because they enjoy the day to day work that it entails; state dinners, meetings and photo-ops all day, flying all over the place to make the same speech, arguing with members of Congress, etc. When you look at the office in this way, it seems like long endless days of boredom.
This leaves the main reason why most people seek political office and why politicians seek higher office--power. Despite all the altruistic reasons that political candidates give for why they are seeking a certain political office it all boils down to power. And Albert Gore Jr. is probably the only American who could become president of the United States and see the amount of power he has, decrease.
Becoming the leader of the free world would be a demotion for the man who is looked upon by millions as the one who will ultimately save the planet. He's not just a mere mortal like Hillary Clinton or Rudy Guiliani; he's the Goracle. The head of the global warming religion would no more want to become president of the United States than the head of the Catholic Church would.
And Gore, much like the Pope is infallible. He got to where he was by turning the science of climate and climate change into a religion; one that brooks no criticism. Gore's success and that of the global warming cabal is dependent upon stifling other points of view and not allowing any debate on the matter. Anyone who dares to question the inevitable destruction of the planet is called a "denier", an obvious reference to Holocaust deniers. Al Gore got to where he is today by refusing to debate or even entertain a debate on the pros and cons of climate change. Were he to run for elected office, he would open himself up to be questioned and debated about his views on global warming. And a couple of choice questions from Hillary or Barack Obama or any other candidate and his life as the Goracle would quickly come to an end. Does anyone seriously think that he would risk all that in an attempt to get to throw out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals home opener? It's not very likely.
The draft Gore movement is the result of desperate Democrats who are afraid that the polarizing Hillary Clinton will win the nomination and then go down to defeat in the presidential election. And there is little doubt that Gore would be in a position to give control of the White House back to the Democrats.
But why would he want to save the Democrats when he can save the world?
