Oil Soars, Fires Rage, War Looms, Hillary Maneuvers, Gore Surges in CBS Poll (Brent Budowsky)<snip>
The stage is set. While the winds of war blow towards Tehran from a president who speaks of World War III, Hillary maneuvers wildly to explain her vote for the Lieberman-Kyl Iran resolution, while her oppo people dish the dirt that Obama voted for a similar resolution himself. All of which makes the case for Gore.
In purely political terms, Barack Obama is a brilliant, inspiring public figure who may well have a presidential future, but his campaign has fallen far behind a front-runner who acts as though she takes the nomination for granted and moves farther to the right. My take is, voters do not believe Obama, with his tremendous virtues, is ready for the brutally negative attack the Republicans will launch. Nor is he ready to be commander in chief in a very dangerous world with a Republican president who makes it more dangerous every day, and Republican candidates trying to appeal to their rabid rightist base by fomenting war hysteria.
A Gore-Obama ticket could well sweep the nation and inspire the world, while inspiring the Democratic Party to far more courage and principle than it has shown at any time during the Bush years.
While Hillary and Barack attack each other for Iran votes that play into the Bush politics of fear, Al Gore stands hard as a rock and tall as an oak as the most powerful voice for the loyal opposition.
Gore’s appeal is not merely his experience as vice president, congressman, senator and Nobel Laureate but the larger truth that he is a champion of a sweeping worldview and a fearless opponent of Bush wrongs at a time when throughout the nation, Democrats and independents believe their Washington-based leaders have been timid, fearful and ineffective. Standard Gore for President 2008 Post Disclaimers:
#1: I will admit that Gore will not run for POTUS in 2008 when he either (1.) states that he will not seek, nor will he accept his party's nomination for POTUS in 2008, or (2.) when the Democratic National Convention is over and he has not won the nomination.
#2: I deeply appreciate everything Al has done regarding the climate crisis and the restoration of democracy in the U.S. Whatever he decides to do next is fine with me. I believe that his decision will be based on what he believes is best for the nation and the world and I will respect that decision. I do not believe that letting him know that we want him to run is disrespectful in anyway - I will work for him whether he runs or not. Having signed the
LiveEarth Pledge this summer I already am.
#3: Is it realistic to think that Gore could enter the race and win at this point? Yes. He could ignore New Hampshire and Iowa (and any states that hold primaries before that date) -- and toss his hat in the ring in time to participate in the February primaries which include the big states like California. See
Could Gore Be a Contender? Also see the answer to that question -
CBS News Poll: Gore emerges as a serious contender. Gore could also wait until the convention is held to accept the Democratic Party nomination - see
An Open Convention for Gore.
#4: Why am I enthusiastic about a possible Gore candidacy? We must, must, must think "outside the box" to address the climate crisis and the constitutional crisis and so forth. What better way to start then to think "outside the box" in terms of our nomination process this time out?
Meanwhile, the petition at Draft Gore is nearing 220,000 signatures...
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/algore2008/signatories.html">Sign It! and visit the
Draft Gore homepageAnd over at the Democracy for America pulse poll - Al has 27% of 95,205 votes cast -
http://democracyforamerica.com/pulsepoll">Cast a write in vote for Al! In a helpful post over at Current.com, someone pointed out that you can vote in the pulse polls as many times as you have email addresses - so if you have two or three email addresses you can write in votes for Al two or three times! ;-) A DFA pulse poll is not a reflection of the entire nation. In fact, the percentage of Democratic Primary voters who would vote for Al is 32% according to the new
CBS News Poll - that is higher than on the DFA pulse poll, although Gore is a write-in candidate on the pulse poll...)
Also go to Current.com and tell Al who you want to run for POTUS 2008 -
Gore Launches Virtual Town Hall: Asks Who We Want In 2008!