I don't think that is insurmountble.  I just can't believe if there is a more friendly President in '09 that Al Gore's work will be so independent from the White House.  What a waste of a resource if that is the case.

He completely ruled it out within one second of the question being asked and then reiterated his "No" twice more.  It was extremely definitive.  That's a big difference compared to his answers about running for president.  

I also don't see it as a waste of a resource, he's doing fine where he is right now.  The only place that he could do more would be as president.

that he doesn't want to work for someone else, to offer his talents and judgment up to potentially be ignored.  That's very much the subtext of what he has to say about the Clinton administration & Kyoto, IMO... he's not necessarily bitter about it, but he also knows that he wasn't really in a position at the time to do any real arm-twisting or to make a big deal out of it.  That's just how it is when you're not the boss, lol, and Gore doesn't have to be a subordinate any more, even as a highly-placed counselor.  He's sort of the anti-Cheney in that respect-- not to mention in many others, of course.

IMO, he should either run for President, or stay on his current as an independent advocate/advisor. That allows him to express his opinions freely and critique anyone as necessary.

Even as VP, he found himself stifled by Clinton on these issues, and there is little to no chance that he'd want to play second/third fiddle to anyone.

If the next admin (Dem or Rep) fails to get the job done on global warming, then he MUST run for President in 2012. He'd be left with no choice but to do that.