Crossposted from Town Called Dobson
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I hope the lesson is patience. Patience to wait for the time to be right for Al Gore to announce.
He couldn’t do it at the Academy Awards because that would be just tacky. And I can hear the cries from the Limbaughs of the world “he is the Hollywood candidate!”
He probably won’t before or during the concerts coming up later this year. If he did, the concerts would be seen as being for the campaign, not for the environment.
And why is it so damn important for Al to declare NOW? RIGHT THIS MINUTE!!!!??? It isn’t. He can continue running around, gaining exposure, appearing mature in the face of Bush’s stupidity all the while letting Hillary and Obama kill each other. Let them drain their resources and their public good-will while Al can achieve the same PR without the cost or restrictions of a campaign.
Let the field dwindle and let the public get sick and tired of the current crop of candidates – then Al can declare and appear to save the day.
I am sorry, stormbear.
But you are dreaming.
These are not images of a candidate.
These are images of a man who is finally happy.
A man who has truly found his place in the world.
Someone who has no stomach for the rough and tumble of politics and has finally come to grips with that realization. Had he been born to the fight, he would not have lost to Bush in the first place. He would have built up such a majority that no amount of vote theft in the world would have been able to steal that election.
I mean…THINK about it.
He pretty much tied in the national vote count when his opponent was just a tick or two higher in the IQ depratment than a mid-level chimpanzee.
Please.
Had he any real major league political talent, he never would have allowed a lizard like Lieberman on the same stage with him for a photo-op, let alone on the ticket. Can you imagine Bill Clinton making the same mistake?
Naaaahhhh…
He is now a moral celebrity.
Happily so.
Doing good works on a higher but similar level than say Tipper and HER crusade for a kinder, gentler CD labeling policy.
A spokesperson for what he believes to be morally correct.
An honorable profession.
Nothing more, and nothing less.
May he rest in peace, politically speaking.
He was never cut out for the job.
A lucky man, who knows himself.
A lucky man.
AG
I’m with you on this one, AG. He looks happy, and he looked like he was having fun poking fun at both himself and everyone who wants him to run with that Oscar acceptance speech.
Who would trade being happy and fulfilled with what they’re doing to spend the next 18 months trying to become the guy who comes in to clean up after the elephants’ mees?
heh.
I almost agree. Except he might be able to waltz in late to the game and take the car keys away from Hillary. He’s never been more popular in the party or in the press. And he’s the only one that can win the nomination without an army on the ground. He still has time to do it a new way. There’s no reason for him to lower himself to the level of a mere contender. Better to be a savior.
But, maybe you’re right and he doesn’t have the stomach for it.
If Hillary is looking like the nominee next year, we’re going to need a savior…
The only “savior” on the horizon…the only one with the requisite oomph, the needed charisma to overcome her organization…is Obama
Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.
Obama needs some seasoning before he ascends to the throne. I seriously doubt his long-term endurance. He’s got talent, but he is presently running on not much more than emotion. Once the emotional centers are drained…that’s when you need an organization like the one that the Clintons have been busily putting together for 7 or 8 years.
Should he actually defeat her in the primaries in a decisive manner…THEN the entire mainstream Democratic has to shift gears and start to work with HIM in mind.
Shifting gears means shifting people.
Shifting people means infighting and the resultant inefficiency that such shifts inevitably entail.
Meanwhile, the Ratpub machine will most assuredly continue on its clomp clomp clomping course behind whatever criminal that IT nominates.
It could get messy.
VERY messy.
I still maintain that the surest way out of this mess would be a Clinton/Obama ticket built on old school Dem coalition style politics.
A slightly NEW coalition.
Minorities, women, the young, and labor plus the committed middle class/upper middle class/educated class Dem organization.
Best we can hope for, I think.
So that goes, as well.
Later…
AG
“…waltz in late to the game and take the car keys away from Hillary?”
Booman…he doesn’t WANT to be the designated driver.
Please.
Look at that first picture again.
He’s high as a kite.
On fame.
Give him a blood test and they’d put him in the hospital on suspicion of possible endorphin poisoning.
He’s going NOWHERE.
Except to the next reception.
And thence directly to the covers of People Magazine and USA Yesterday.
He’s a celebrity. Just another celebrity.
He coulda been a contender, but now he’s just a content provider.
So it goes.
AG
I don’t get the Steve Irwin connection.
Just saying. That’s me – always the last to get it…
Steve Irwin… make sure you change the world before you die…. over the top zen, I know.
to agree with Germaine Greer’s view of Steve Irwin. She is an infinitely greater Australian contribution to the world than he was.