Dear President Gore: (I call you that because you did win in 2000)
There is much abuzz about whether you will or won't run in 2008. Mr. Gore, I don't care if you WANT to run or don't want to run. Mr. Gore you HAVE to run. Your country needs you. Sometimes in life you have to do something not because it's easiest or most convenient and not because it's best for you personally. You do it because the greater good necessitates such a course of action. Mr. Gore I'd crawl on one leg across America licking the dirt off the sidewalks if my personal inconvenience could undo all the harm the Busheviks have inflicted on America over the past 6 years.
Mr. Gore, you are the person best suited to rescue us from the assaults on reason, our Constitution, our environment, our security, and our domestic infrastructure perpetrated on us by the Busheviks and their allies. You have more experience and wisdom to be President than every other candidate of either party has combined.
The time to step up to the plate is fast approaching. I EXPECT you to deliver.
Granted sir life would be a heck of a lot easier if you did not run for President. You have a wonderful wife, great children, and terrific grandchildren. You have more than enough money to live comfortably for the next 30 years. You also have the freedom to selectively involve yourself in projects that you want, on your own schedule, at your own pace. Few in life have these luxuries. You've earned those luxuries but you will have to give them up. You don't want to, I know, but you have to. The Al Gore of 2000 would disagree with me. The Al Gore of today knows I'm right.
President Gore, the man you are today is not the man you were in 2000. Back in 2000 you were a decent man at heart but a flawed man in practice. You mistakenly thought that if you followed the conventional wisdom of the Washington media and DC cocktail party elitists by laying low, not trying to stir up issues, and distancing yourself from a President on so called moral issues that you would ride the peace and prosperity of the Nineties into the White House.
You relied on a bunch of highly paid pollsters and professional hacks like Bob Help Democrats Lose Elections Shrum, Mark Help Republicans Win Penn, and Donna Undermine Democrats Brazille thinking that if you followed their DLC handbook of capitulating to Republicans (thus making yourself look weak in the process) that you would eke out a 2-3 point victory over an inexperienced Governor from Texas with a famous last name. How wrong you were. But I forgive you because I genuinely know the Al Gore of today understands the error of those ways.
You now know that if you gave a big middle finger to the Shrum's, Brazille's, and Penn's of the world, articulated where you stood on the issues forcefully and truthfully without wishy-washy wavering, (as you do brilliantly in your must read book, The Assault on Reason) simply said that what Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky did was wrong but no big deal, them you would have made the Lyndon Johnson-Barry Goldwater race of 1964 look like a nailbiter.
Over time, you started to find your voice as you felt freed from the shackles of the DLC and the professional pundits. Whether your inner transformation stemmed from anger at what the Shrums, Brazilles and Penns cost you or your transformation stemmed from having some time to reflect on all that happened, you transformed yourself into a great leader. You delivered a poignant speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in 2002 where you nailed the issue of Iraq long before anyone else. You followed that up with a terrific speech at NYU about the follies of George W Bush invading an unarmed nation that posed no threat to us while simultaneously ignoring the actual terrorists who did attack us. And to this day you've continued to show more and more courage, speaking out about foreign policy, global warming, our corrupt media, and all the important issues of the day.
The mere fact Mr. Gore that you've turned out to be right every time thus far, years in advanced, tells you that you are a visionary and a leader. You probably wouldn't have turned out this way if you were serving us as President but you ARE this way now.
As the man you ARE today, you understand the grave problems we face as a nation and how you are the one person most qualified to fix them in the fastest amount of time. You articulated these concepts and solutions in your book, The Assault On Reason, and if you simply go on the campaign trail and talk as you did in this book, you will be a double digit, landslide victor in November of 2008.
Your inauguration as President in 2009 would bring instant credibility to our nation and make us 95% safer within two minutes of taking the oath as President. Your courage as a leader will bring millions of new voters to the polls, combined with large numbers of independents and moderate Republicans who will support you for President but would otherwise stay home if another Democrat gets the nomination in 2008.
Of course you will be attacked and slimed if you entered the race but the Al Gore of today wouldn't cower to the Coulter's, Insanity's and Limbaugh's of this world. The Al Gore of today would smack these propagandistic demagogues down hard and when they come at you again, you'd smack them down twice as hard the next time until they eventually wilt like the bully-cowards they truly are.
When the Washington Post or New York Times print their BS ladened with Republican talking points masquerading as objective news stories, the Al Gore of today will call it BS. When CNN lies and spews its daily pro-GOP Republican, the Al Gore of today will bash CNN and point out the bias. You'd even have the power to persuade hundreds of thousands of people to refuse to watch CNN, forcing the cable network to either be fair or go bankrupt. When Katie Couric reads GOP talking points from a teleprompter, the Al Gore of today will call her out on her lies and demand an apology. You'll do the same when NBC News with Republican "go to guy" Brian Williams does the same as well as ABC, owned by the right wing Disney corporation. I know you won't care about what the media or cocktail party elitists think and you have the power to make them irrelevant. You understand media better than anyone and you'll take these media conglomerates on, head on, and crush them. No other candidate has that power.
Yes, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Obama, and even Mrs. Clinton would be far better choices than any of the reactionary, demagogic clowns running for the Republican nomination. But we can't afford the risk of a close race with a Republican nominee especially with Rove appointed Attorney Generals serving in swing states.
Actually stopping terrorism, restoring America's credibility, rebuilding our military, recreating a pro middle class economy, protecting our environment, bringing learning back to our education system, preserving our Constitution, remedying health care atrocities, and stopping the threat of global warming are difficult tasks, tasks far more inconvenient than giving a few speeches and spending quality time with the grandchildren. But Mr. Gore, this isn't about you personally, it's about America. I know you'll step up to the front. Millions of people, myself included, we've got your back.
Yours truly,
Dave From Queens