Huff Post's Bill Robinson:"An Inconvenient Gore" (we've changed, not Gore)

[Pirate Smile]

An Inconvenient Gore

READ MORE: Al Gore, Supreme Court, Global Warming, George W. Bush

Here's the deal: Al Gore is still Al Gore. Most anyone who has seen "An Inconvenient Truth" can tell you, it's the same guy. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But the hype about the "new, improved Gore," the loosened-up dude, newly comfy in his skin, totally changed since his humbling non-defeat in the 2000 election... well, it's just hype.

And it's misdirected.

In the film, Al Gore is the same earnest professor, literally lecturing us, from a stage, about global warming, replete with charts and graphs and that signature lilt in his voice. He may be beefier, he may be greyer, but he still name-drops and calls most every major global warming scientist "a friend." In short, he's still the same old Al Gore. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

In fact, there's very little wrong with the same old Al Gore. He's the guy that won the popular-- and probably electoral-- vote in 2000. He doesn't need to be re-invented. As the film shows, he is still a brilliant guy, giving the same ahead-of-it's-time lecture about global warming, with an eye towards saving the planet, instead of saving his 29% approval rating, like others we know. He shouldn't have to apologize for being who he he's always been: a reasonable, consistent, fundamentally decent intellectual with the greater good in mind. In fact, maybe it's us who's changed. After 6 years of watching our nation go from Hero to Zero, maybe we see Al a bit differently now.

The brilliance of "An Inconvenient Truth" is not its lame animation of Polar Bears looking for floating ice, but its documentation of a man who has basically never changed. Gore is the Energizer Bunny, shuffling around the world with his laptop of depressing truths, flying business class instead of Air Force One, in an effort to save us from ourselves.

It is the events swirling around him, not the man himself, that have changed. The footage of Gore in environmental committee hearings in the 80's proves that. It is our (or more specifically, the Supreme Court's) rejection of him that has turned him into a sacrificial figure. In fact, if there was ever a hard-to-avoid crucifixion metaphor, it's Gore being frisked by airport security. Priceless.

I have no idea if the guy is running again-- I look to HuffPo readers for that kind of skinny-- but I did kind of grow up around him and there have always been big expectations. I first saw him speak at the JFK Library in the 80's. All of 13, I turned to the adults I was with and said "that guy could be president." They laughed. I got the impression they thought he was too young, and that southern democrats weren't particularly fashionable at that moment.

I attended his high school, St. Albans, and knew his daughters at the sister school, NCS. I had lunch under his class picture in the refectory every day. Later, I would learn the likes of John Warner, Britt Hume, Josh Bolten, and Prescott Bush were hanging on the wall nearby, but during my era, Senator Gore was the local hero. There was still a slight whiff of optimism around politics then, pre-Bush Senior. And Gore seemed to be the guy that embodied it best.

In the 1990's, my sister worked in the West Wing when Gore was VP, and he continued to be well-liked. He was competent, yet stopped short of running the country into war from an undisclosed location. He didn't shoot anyone in the face. He didn't use profanity on the floor of the Senate, or cause his chief of staff to get indicted covering up national security leaks for him.

During that time. I had the opportunity to screen a film I had exec. produced for President Clinton at the White House. Afterwards, he took me and the other Hollywood types on a midnight stroll through the building, giving us an amazingly detailed history of, well, everything that had ever happened there. After an hour or two, as we were thinking "does this guy ever sleep" and "they are going to have to forcibly remove him on inauguration day because no one has ever loved the White House this much," Clinton stopped. We were in the Oval Office, and he leaned back against his desk, arms folded across his sweater, and threw out his bit of prophecy: "This guy Bush thinks he should be president cuz his daddy was. And It's wrong. It should be Al." It was unforgettable, not just because of its bluntness, but because at the time, no one was taking W that seriously. But I guess no one knew better than Clinton how quickly things could turn, and how dirty it could get behind the scenes.

Al made mistakes. Al shouldn't have shunned Clinton. Al shouldn't have relied so heavily on advisers. Al should have won by a landslide. All true. But the vibe continues to be that the guy isn't finished yet. I, for one, hope he's not. But to those who support him, I would suggest it is not to his advantage to position him as the "new, improved Gore." People are always disappointed by false advertising. If "An Inconvenient Truth" is any indication, he is pretty much the same Al Gore he's always been. And maybe that's not such a bad thing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-robinson/an-inconvenient-gore_b_22333.html

[JNelson6563]

1. True though this is

it won't stop even some DUers from propagating this corporate media perpetuated myth.

Julie

[blm]

2. Now THIS is an article I agree with -

No matter what mistakes he has made (and I jump on the REAL mistakes), he was never the Al Gore the media made him out to be, so he's NOT a NEW Al Gore now.

He's the same decent, concerned, policy-loving lawmaker he always was. You don't have to AGREE with him, but he was never a liar, venal or avaricious as so many try to claim. And he was never boring to serious-minded people who also saw through to his humor.

[ourbluenation]

3. Exactly - this is what I've been sayin...Gore is a great guy in so

many ways, always has been. Run Al, Run.

K and R

[ourbluenation]

4. I love the point about the SCOTUS annointers

Gore winning in 08, what he rightfully won in 00, would be a delicious slap in the face to the "annointers". It's a comeback story that only the wing nuttery hard core could not enjoy.

[sandnsea]

5. hear hear

It's amazing the conclusions Democrats draw when they listen to the actual human being Democrat instead of the right wing spin on the Democrat. That's the only thing "new" about Al Gore and it ought to be a lesson to everybody who thinks Al Gore is any different than he's ever been.

[Pirate Smile]

6. Another blog from Huff Post on Gore:

Run, Al, Run...But Not Quite Yet

READ MORE: Iraq, Fox News, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Supreme Court, Tom DeLay, Global Warming, George W. Bush

Like many who have written for this site, I’ve been excited by the reemergence of Al Gore as a public figure and a potential presidential candidate.

Gore has been right on some of the most important issues of our time. Unlike far too many Congressional Democrats, he was one of the first public figures to oppose the Iraq War before it started—and he rightfully predicted the quagmire which it has become.

-snip-
Still…both for Gore himself, and for those of us who would consider supporting him for President, Gore should bide his time before he considers announcing a Presidential run.

The longer Gore can continue speaking out as a private citizen, the better chance he has of convincing the MSM and the public that he is a man who speaks from his heart, not just another politician who’s every move is poll-tested, managed and scripted. There is something quite touching about the former Vice President trudging through airports lugging his global warming slide show behind him. As a private citizen, Gore projects a stature that in many ways will drop away as soon as he becomes a declared candidate. Moreover, he has a greater chance of keeping some of that stature if he is in a sense “drafted” to run by the grassroots, rather than just pursuing a personal quest for power.

Remember, Bobby Kennedy did not even become a candidate until March, 1968, after the New Hampshire primary was already over. Given today’s front-loaded primary schedule, Gore could not wait that long to declare. But he has the standing, support and fundraising ability to announce late and immediately be catapulted into the front ranks of Presidential contenders in either party. If shortly before the Iowa caucuses, the race is emerging as Hillary and the Seven Dwarfs, Gore would draw immediate support from large segments of the Democratic electorate. He could quickly raise money both through a grassroots internet campaign, and from major donors who have supported him in the past.

Moreover, I believe Gore when he says that at this point he doesn’t want to run and prefers his role as private citizen. A reluctant Gore, pulled into the race by a massive grassroots movement, allows Gore to remain an idealistic citizen who is overcoming personal reservations to serve his country.

Waiting would also delay the attempted swift-boating of Al Gore and give the media and the public more time to see the reemergence of Gore from behind his former political handlers.

While the liberal blogosphere may be enamored with the “new” Gore, he’s meeting a decidedly mixed response from the MSM, and most voters out there are not even aware of the reemergence of Al Gore. While “An Inconvenient Truth” has received many good reviews, it has also been met with suspicion in the media. Even while praising its message, many are calling it a cleverly timed ploy for Gore to throw his hat into the presidential race. This inference was not helped by the parts of the film where Gore again talks about the near loss of his son and the loss of his sister, and where he’s shown walking around his father’s farm which is decidedly a “gentlemen’s” farm. Gore has used these references in prior campaigns to not necessarily good effect.

And some of the long knives in the right-wing swift-boating faction are already sharpened. In an LA Times column, National Review editor Jonah Goldberg all but calls Gore a liar when he told Arianna Huffington that his first trip to Cannes was in the summer of his 15th year when he came to improve his French and study the existentialists. Goldberg points out that that according to a major biography Gore spent his 15th summer working on his father’s farm. He all but calls Gore a serial liar and exaggerator. (10 days later, the Times printed a short correction confirming that Gore spent the first part of his 15th summer in France and the second part on the farm.) As foolish as Goldberg’s nasty insinuations may actually have been, one has to wonder whether Gore still has a case of political tone deafness. Speaking French and studying the existentialists are hardly qualities which are likely to endear him to the American voter.

Moreover, right now Gore has terrible favorability/unfavorability ratings. While Hillary Clinton, who many fear is unelectable, has, according to Fox News, 50% favorable/42% unfavorable ratings, Al Gore’s ratings are even worse at 41% favorable/45% unfavorable.
It is much more difficult to change a voter from unfavorable to favorable than it is to change a voter from undecided to favorable.

For all these reasons, if Gore spends more time as a non-politician, it may help spread the view of Gore as a passionate, funny, relaxed and grounded man, both to the MSM and to the public. The comparison between the disastrous last 5 ½ years under President Bush and what might have been under President Gore may become increasingly relevant.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/run-al-runbut-not-qu_b_22344.html

[kwolf68]

7. Why in the hell does Gore

Have a 45% disapproval? All the guy is doing is trudging around trying to fix an issue that he consider serious and imperils our planet. He was a wonderful Veep and our environment under Clinton got cleaner, waters got cleaner, pollution standards improved, we began saving-not destroying-forets, and started heading toward a sustainable way to live...and I blame Gore for that. Now we have a nation run by thugs and robber-barons, exploitation for the short term gain and entrenching the all powerful while disenfranchising those without voice or power.

I expect 35% or so to not like Gore...the hardcore neoCons, but what is up with the others?

Whether you think warming is being caused by man or not, you must admire the guy for following his heart and trying to do what he thinks he needs to do to save this planet.

I sincerely admire and love Al Gore...his forward in my copy of Silent Spring was brilliant. I can't believe he isn't our President and this piece of shit freak is.

[sandnsea]

8. There's your national election dilemma

That's the number of people who kneejerk against the hedonist treehugging liberals. The fact that he had over 50% moderately or strongly supporting him is the real story, that's a fantastic place to start from. But what we're going to do about that 45% who automatically believe anything bad about a Democrat, that's a real problem. Democrats aren't even inclined to be that kneejerk against any given Republican.

[Uncle Joe]

9. I believe it's because he empowered us

when he championed the internet, this in effect took some of the MSM's monopoly power on the truth from them and gave it to the people. The MSM were hell bent on slandering and trashing him for this good deed and did so beginning in March 1999 and it still goes on to some degree even to this day. I believe if the MSM were to wage a war and slime anybody for a sustained period of time, eventually their unfavorable rating would go up.

However I do not see these ratings locked in stone, particularly because the same MSM that trashed and slandered Al and then would go on to cheer lead us to a war based on lies, and aid in outing our own CIA agent and her company, has their own credibility problems with the American People. The facts and the truth are exposing Al as the true Statesman he has always been, I believe his movie; "An Inconvenient Truth" will also aid in this endeavor.

[glitch]

12. There are people who believed Nader's meme on Gore and haven't educated

themselves since. People forget Gore was attacked by both left and right.

[Adelante]

10. This is what I've been saying

I don't understand this need for a "new" Gore. If we wanted the old Gore in 2000, what do we need a new one for?

[ms liberty]

11. I liked Al the first time around...intelligence is sexy K&R n/t

[AtomicKitten]

13. yeah, it most definitely is

[Vidar]

14. Great article. Thanks for posting.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Loosened up? The last president the voters went for was loose

enough to snort cocaine, drink alcohol, potentially do creepy things in a coffin to get into a secret society, married someone who killed a boy who spurned her... no offense, but the pattern continued in the oval office. So, I don't want a president who is loosened up. I want a president who recognizes the real dangers we face today and Al Gore is definitely someone who knows it better than we do.