'Al Gore for president', says Steve Jobs. Many of us here at dkos have already heard about his recent statements, but that's not the end of the story.
In the an interview with Time magazine, Jobs tells us what we already know:
"If he ran, there's no question in my mind that he would be elected."
But then he also sheds a little light on an issue that continues to be our conversation these past several months:
"But I think there's a question in his mind, perhaps because the pain of the last election runs a lot deeper than he lets most of us see."
For his own part, Jobs says he has been doing his part to help Al reach the right decision:
"We have dug ourselves into a 20-foot hole, and we need somebody who knows how to build a ladder. Al's the guy," Jobs also told Newsweek. "Like many others, I have tried my best to convince him. So far, no luck."
Well, that point-of-view may not be all-together accurate. Over the past several weeks Gore's languaging has shown subtle changes. Many sources have chronicalled the movement of his statements on the subject of running for president in 2008, from "I don't plan to run" to "I don't plan to run at this time."
Now we have the quote from this week's issue of Time:
I haven't ruled it out.
There's more:
It would take a lot to disabuse me of the notion that my highest and best use is to keep building that consensus."
What it would take, specifically?
</bockquote>"I can't say because I'm not looking for it. But I guess I would know it if I saw it."
Which brings us to his new book The Assault on Reason, just released this week. Trudy Loh accurately described the book as a brilliant analysis of the way in which we have taken a tragic detour from the reasoned discourse essential to self-government. More importantly, it is also a roadmap for the way out.
Among other things in the book, Gore calls for a shift to a two-way conversation for democracy as a way to repair the cracks in it's foundation. He argues that each of us is responsible for where we are and how to get out. Taylor Marsh's recent blog titled A Conversation with Al Gore refers to a point in a recent blog call where Gore told the bloggers:
I put my heart and soul into this book. ... What this book is is an effort to really lay out, not only a diagnosis but also a prescription. Those of you on this call are part of the group in America that I do see as on the cutting edge of the change I hope is coming on strong." - Vice President Al Gore
He's indirectly suggesting that the 2008 election is not about a single candidate, but a movement to get us back on track. I happen to believe that he's not only the leader of such a movement, but also the one Democrat who not only will effectively fight back when taken on by the "First the Verdict, then the trial" Right, but is far and away the most capable candidate to lead America out of the Bush abyss. The only person to keep Al from becoming president in 2009 is Al Gore...and us.
"But I guess I would know it if I saw it": Perhaps he saw a little bit of it Tuesday night at his book signing in Beverly Hills. Perhaps he saw it the next night at his second book signing in Marin County. Perhaps he'll see it more and more throughout the book tour, as more and more of us chant "Run Al Run."
What else can we do? Is anyone researching and writing about how to get him on the primary ballots in our respective states? With filing dates approaching in a few months, now is the time to be putting the information out there for others to act on, so that Al Gore will "know it when he sees it." Here in California, it's as simple as Secretary of State Debra Bowen making a decision to put his name on the ballot. Does anyone know Debra? Is anyone talking or writing about this?
Al Gore has pretty much laid out the tools and the road map. The rest is up to us. We need to keep pushing each other into action. The book tour will be over soon, and then what? It's time to start the whispering (or shouting) campaign: Save the White House. Save the World. Gore '08