I’d post this story from Salon’s War Room just because of its title. But, the story is extremely important. Al Gore is “criss-crossing the nation — and the globe — to try to awaken the slumbering masses.”
More from “Al Gore’s midnight ride” at Salon’s War Room:
Taking the stage, Gore seemed to know the very subject of global warming is a hard sell even to the well-heeled environmentalists gathered to hear him speak before a gala dinner with visiting mayors and dignitaries from around the globe: “Thank you for being willing to listen. I ask you to open your hearts and see this in a new way. Our civilization is now at risk,” he said.
The former vice-president then trotted out images and facts, which should be familiar by now, yet somehow remain almost too gigantic in their implications to fully take in. The 10 hottest years on record have occurred in the last 14 years. Already trees in the Arctic, now known as drunken trees, are listing because the permafrost under them is melting. In 15 years, there will be no more snows of Kilimanjaro. And in 20 years, get psyched to visit “the park formerly known as Glacier” on your summer vacation.
“Is it only terrorists that are worth fighting? Is that the only threat to the future that’s worth organizing to respond to?” Gore asked. Lest the crowd despair that with the climate change nay-sayers in power in Washington D.C. nothing can be done in the U.S., Gore reminded them that 158 U.S. mayors have pledged to meet Kyoto-like goals in their own cities. And only days before, California’s Republican governor Schwarzenegger had announced his state’s own plans to fight climate change.
But to really take on the problem in the United States, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, there’s going to have to be a lot more bi-partisan political will where that came from. “In our democracy, political will is a renewable resource. And that’s the essence of our challenge,” Gore said. Whether the warning of his midnight ride will be heard remains to be seen.
How utterly different our world would have been, Al Gore, had you won the 2000 election, which was rightfully yours.
We’ll never know what would have happened if Gore had been our president since 2000.
Actually, I do know what would have happened.
Let’s see…Vice-President Joe Lieberman would have held a joint press conference with the Republicans to denounce Mr. Gore’s attempts to put the nation on the track towards energy independence.
After 9/11, President Gore would have convened a congressional committee to investigate the 9/11 attacks and give its recommendations on how to prevent future recurrences. Osama bin Laden would have been killed after being surrounded by US troops in Afghanistan and the al-Qaeda organisation smashed.
After the 2002 midterm elections, the Republicans would have started impeachment proceedings against President Gore over that unpaid jaywalking ticket from 1966.
In the wake of the failed impeachment, President Gore’s approval ratings would have gone into the low 80s going into the 2004 election, but he would have lost to Jeb Bush even though exit polls showed President Gore leading Governor Bush by 65 to 35.
And Governor Bush would now be claiming that Saddam was directly responsible for 9/11, and preparing (along with Tony Blair) to invade that country.
Well, we would have had four good years, anyway.
Thank you for this, Susan. It’s difficult to imagine the “what if?” because the reality has been so overwhelming. Al Gore has been giving really terrific speeches — the transcript of the little blue dot speech made me cry. I think he has the potential for becoming a great leader, with or without an official elected position.
Gore rocks. I have heard him speak live twice and was BLOWN AWAY both times. I would vote for him as God if I could!
If Gore were president the over 1600 US soldiers killed in Iraq would be alive and well. Also, the Iraqis, contractors, aid workers, UN personnel and others who have lost their lives because of the Iraq debacle would most likely be alive today. A surplus would still exist and the $300 billion we’ve spent thus far in Iraq could instead be used to improve education of our young and care for our elderly. We wouldn’t be facing the threat to Social Security and the middle class would not feel as squeezed as we do now. Also…and I’m going out on a limb here…I think it is highly likely 911 would have been averted by an alert president who took PDBs seriously. Oh, and finally, I think we’d have a president who’d actually spend time in the White House working rather than riding his bicycle or clearing brush on his ranch.
When I ponder a Gore presidency and fully take in the nightmare we’ve experienced in the past four and a half Bush years I can get overwhelmingly depressed. As it is, in order to function I’ve had to exile my TV and keep my Internet news reading to a minimum. That, and eat as much chocolate as possible.
Gore gave a stunning environmental speech to MoveOn last year. If you haven’t seen it, here is the link.