Earth’s Ambassador
Cruising the web lanes half asleep at the mouse last night, I cam upon a shiny new site: DraftGore.tv. Similar to algore.org and algore-08.com, the idea is to get the man elected. First, though, you have to get him to campaign. That may be the tough part.
There’s a momentum building behind this idea. The Internet is buzzing with the prospect. It seems more people would welcome a Gore campaign in 2008 than would cringe. He’s a rock star, a visionary and a golden man-of-the-hour.Andy Ostroy of ABCNews ventured a slogan for the man: "Imagine How it Would Have Been." Indeed.
I don’t think he’ll run. Here’s why. By being the victim of a hostile takeover of the popular vote, Al Gore saw into the rotted soul of American politics. For years he’s tried to bring this issue home to the lard-assed chair warmers in congress. He’s heard a thousand excuses why "this issue requires careful thought," so the vote should de delayed "until a study has been done." Kudos for him for trying.
After the 2000 disaster, as he struggled with the injustice, I surmise he came to the realization that the fight for ecological responsibility is bigger than one nation. Not America nor China nor the European Union can unilaterally minimize the coming storms. It takes everyone. So he turned his back on the national stage and took his show on the road.
Al Gore stopped begging governments to take action. He took his message to humanity. Climate change is not a political issue, it’s a human issue; therefore, he realized, entrenched governments are insufficient to the task. Instead, he would ask humanity for help.
So doing, Mr. Gore has transcended national politics and championed the first global political issue. He has become Ambassador to Earth on behalf of the human species. He has inadvertently given humanity a reason to likewise transcend local governments, to push inevitable globalization to the next level by immobilizing a global grass roots on a subject everyone is concerned about. Why would he return to the restrictions inherent in a myopic nationalism?
This is, of course, my personal opinion. Others disagree. I’m okay with that, because clearly - one way of another - Al Gore’s time is here. The world may become a better place either way.