Why I Believe Al Gore Is A Great Man

I love debating things of importance Jan, and there is no reason for anger or defensiveness. I'm also very interested in listening to the interview you mentioned where Gore says drafts don't happen anymore. Now of course 'don't' and 'can't' are two completely separate issues which would have to be defined by context, so I'd love to see the specific interview you speak of and the context of which it was spoken. Seeing the high importance Al puts on the People in democracy, I'd be quite surprised to hear that he has anything but respect for a grassroots movement of people asking for what they want from leaders to better their country, but I have an open mind, so please lead me to the interview so I can judge for myself. The draft Gore movement can be defined using the words you used "by empowering PEOPLE to turn the tide poltically and morally bottom to top". We the People (at the bottom) are changing ourselves in our own daily lives and also attempting to effect others all the way to the top by voting for the BEST candidate available and in this case, when he has not officially said NO or YES, we are trying to convince him of his support amongst voters (nothing at all to get mad about... & he certainly isn't, in fact he thanked drafters working to put his name on the ballot in CA recently). I also support the climate groups you mentioned above as well as others, I have decreased my carbon footprint and purchase carbon offsets so that my family and I are able to live carbon neutral. I teach my children ways to make a difference & they share these things with their friends, I drive a Prius, write letters to my representatives in office, & do whatever else I can, & still I don't see these things as being enough. This is why I was sincerely asking you to share what other effective options we have, because I just really don't see them unless we have someone like Al Gore in office. I truly want to hear the solutions you think will work without him, in the amount of time we have left to work with. Seriously. I don't want to spend this time arguing here, I want to spend it on solutions, so please tell me some solutions I may be missing....

Jan I certainly appreciate this back and forth between you two...an interesting debate. I would only say to you that environmental initiatives won't matter much if the planet is at war. I do not think people who ask Gore to run are being whiny or looking for a savior. But it is quite obvious that we need a leader of his magnitude to change the direction we are headed in. At this time, it needs to be not only someone the nation respects, but someone the world respects as well. We don't have many choices here. It seems like we need people like you to carry his enviromental work forward. But we desparately need a peaceful "climate" to make that happen. Many of us are just not confident in the current selection of politicians to do that. He was able to take on both in the past. We are just hoping he will make that choice again.

Mr. Gore has no obligation to make a "Sherman statement" and I hope he doesn't simply because it is unfair to hold him to a double standard no one else is held to. No on else is required to give a Sherman statement to validate the obsession of a group of people who can't take no for an answer. He also stated that he should not have to apologize for not wanting to get into the political fray. He said that on Larry King I believe, along with other things, such as the fact that drafts do not happen in this country anymore, and he is correct about that. That was probably why he turned the same people down in 2004. I think he knows the score better than we do regarding that. He is realistic, and actually absolutely correct to state that he should not feel the obligation to give a Sherman statement and especially to be put on the spot here on his own station when he is doing such good work here. I think his actions prove loudly what his intentions are and should they change for whatever reason because HE deems it necessary I will support that. This is a site and a station that I have belonged to since its inception in 2005 because it is revolutionary and breaking the barriers of the stale MSM. We can use this station and this site for so much more than bickering everyday over what Mr. Gore is going to do. That is his choice and his choice alone, and he is already doing it, and I stand with him in that. If you don't, fine. Continue on your political recruitment crusade while he continues to do great things for this planet. If badgering him is so much more important than truly participating here with your own solutions to change that system and supporting him, go to it. Oh, and the solutions you ask for are right in front of your face. Matter of fact, you are posting on one now. And Mr. Gore's other organizations, The Climate Project, and The Alliance for Climate Protection are two others I support in working for solutions to mitigating this climate crisis by empowering PEOPLE to turn the tide poltically and morally bottom to top, because that is the only viable way now since we already know that top to bottom is not feasible. Politics will remain STAGNANT on this unless it gets a really big push. Mr, Gore and many others are now prepared to give that push but as I stated if you would rather push him, that is your prerogative.

You forgot the part about Al Gore repeatedly stating he will not rule out a run or give a so-called Sherman statement. So Jan, I've heard you talk a lot about what you're against and the things you believe won't work, but what I want to hear are your solutions. That's what's important if that is what we are truly here to work on, right? Tell us what your solutions are without a president who is in agreement, say like pResident Bush. What solutions do you have to make the world better while a person like him is in office?

And that is what is wrong with this country made up of lazy, apathetic, whiny people who always expect saviors to lead them... But then when it comes to them actuallly discussing their part in taking action they become silent or defensive, and frankly, that has to change if we are to save ourselves. Mr. Gore led this country for thirty years in that beltway and eight of them as our Vice President and did a wonderful job of it. He has now stated multiple times that he has no intentions or plans to be a candidate again. He has good reasons for stating that, and I believe him and respect those words. And I respect them because to me he will always be a leader regardless of his address. And he will always be a man who will influence events and even policy and do it now on a global scale. So this he has to run rhetoric is just that... rhetoric. I see no proof that this system has changed or that people are even ready to change it. So why should he go back to that mess to go through it again with no guarantees he would even make it due to the obstacles that would be put in his path, when he can do so much out here at this time as a statesman, environmental advocate, businessman, and Nobel Peace Prize winner? The presidency of this country is not the center of the universe, nor is it the glorious thing so many make it out to be. I don't see the attraction to it especially now. And if he ever decided to go back, all it would be would be matching him up with HIllary Clinton to make it 'interesting', and don't think others don't see that undercurrent in all of this prodding. And that would be exactly what we would see in this MSM, with nothing being discussed but the past. And I do not believe he deserves that, nor does he deserve to be constantly harrangued about something he has already commented on and is more than capable to decide on his own based on the fact that for all those who state they will have your back, that suddenly changes when things don't go their way. So sorry, no sell here. No president can truly lead without people willing to lead themselves, and I am not sold that he would have much of anything to go back to. He is moving forward and has much time to decide anything he wishes to do politically if he changes his mind down the road. I am not one who believes that he would be washed up otherwise as others seem to think. The planet needs him and his vision more now. And to me that takes precedence over some "political" campaign and constricted presidency that holds no guarantees of success. But in the end it isn't really even about Mr. Gore, it is about US, and since I don't see any of those prodding him as if he has done nothing discussing issues or what they are doing to make this world a better place in their participation here besides using this site as their campaign headquarters, that tells me much about what he would have to deal with.

Al Gore believes Abraham Lincoln was one of our greatest presidents and ironically, Lincoln said, "Seriously, I do not think I fit for the presidency". I'm sure Honest Abe was probably right about that and I'll bet that may have been one of the things that made him one of the best presidents in our history. The fact that Al Gore says the same thing about himself not fitting into politics is EXACTLY why we need him to be our president AND exactly why he too has the ability to become one of our greatest presidents. Our country needs to change politics as usual. Will it be hard? Yes. Will it take someone of incredible moral courage and ability to lead us out of this awful pit? Yes. That is why we need Al Gore. Will it need to include the People? Of course, but without a leader who desires to include the People, we will not be able to successfully "go far quickly" (to quote an old African proverb). We need both or we won't make it in time.

cont. from above:

There is much we can do as citizens to get out truth. I am starting a book on the global water crisis and even though it scares me a bit because I have never attempted to write a book before, I am compelled to do it because I have armed myself with knowledge that I feel I have to share, and because the environmental advocacy of Mr. Gore was a great inspiration in that decision.

The Internet is a place of great potential for that truth as well, and so are the other options open to us as citizens to now become a part of the process instead of always waiting for others to do it for us. Mr. Gore and those involved in this noble cause have opened up those possibilities and given us our chance for our voices to be heard and our actions to be part of the solution, and that is really what Democracy is all about.

And while he will always be my president and I will support any personal decision he makes on his own, he is a great man more so to me because he is doing this for the good of this country the way he now sees fit, and I am not about to apologize to anyone for how I choose to support him now simply because I don't support the soundbite, jingoistic, status quo way others still wish to continue to do things year in and year out... the very ways that got us nowhere in the past.

He is a great man because he sees beyond all of that to new horizons and is walking on a new road, and that is the road I now wish to travel as well because I believe it is the road that will now be most effective in saving this planet and our relationship to it because it is a road built on truth and reality.