Why Al Gore should not run for President

I want to congratulate Vice President Gore on winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming.

Gore has been interested in the environment generally, and global warming in particular for decades.  Since "losing" the Presidential election Gore has made significantly greater strides in alerting people to the danger of global warming than he was able to do in prior years. This is work that he clearly wants to do, that he is needed to do and that he is more effective at doing than anyone else on the planet.

This is the reason Al Gore should not run for President.

The President of the United States has multiple responsibilities and priorities.  Of necessity, these both divide the President's energies and constrain his (or her) actions. Thus, if Gore were to be President, his attention and efforts would necessarily be divided among these issues.
His ability to support or punish a politician for his or her stance on global warming would need to be balanced against that politician's stances on other issues.

In order to succeed in his efforts on global warming, Gore doesn't need to be President.  He merely needs to have as President someone with a good position on global warming and a willingness to improve as political reality allows.  

Any of the leading Democratic contenders could fill this role. But only Al Gore, as a private citizen, can fulfill his current role of chief global opponent of global warming.

•  Tips 'n Trolls

  This is not to say I won't seriously consider supporting him if he runs, as I think (as I have since 1988) that he will make a great President.

  But it really does seem that he is uniquely suited for the role he has created for himself and that the Presidency won't enhance his ability to achieve it.

  by Justanothernyer on Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 11:45:13 AM PDT

•  Why this argument doesn't work for me

  "his current role of chief global opponent of global warming" has about zero effect on policy. And we really need the policy side right now. Not 20 years from now, but right now.

  by Spit on Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 11:47:59 AM PDT

  •  That's a pretty good reason

    for him to make a run against Lamar! I don't think he'll do it though, and I don't think he'd win.

    by andgarden on Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 11:53:39 AM PDT

•  He would need a huge democratic majority

  in Congress behind him, for him to be effective.
  The Republicans would still stonewall him at every opportunity, Nobel Prize or not.
  The bad guys don't go away just because he becomes President.

  by steelman on Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 11:58:44 AM PDT

  •  no, they don't

    but they don't get to hide behind a veto pen, either.

    by Spit on Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 12:05:53 PM PDT

•  Here's what I don't understand:

  How could someone who wrote The Assault on Reason not run? Unless we are to assume he didn't really mean what he wrote, of course. Even I'm not that cynical.

  by Tyrannocaster on Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 11:58:55 AM PDT

•  I agree

  No doubt he would do a great job as President.

  However, he couldn't give the global warming issue the attention it needs and the attention he gives it now. There's other stuff he'd have to do like Iraq, and health care, and immigration, and the economy, and....
  He also couldn't speak out in the way he can now, or on the platforms he can now. Presidents have to weigh what they say and how they say it, both domestically and internationally. There have to be compromises, and giving up "this" to get "that".

  by Catte Nappe on Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 11:59:06 AM PDT

  •  This is a WW-II level of effort

    required to deal with climate change.  Making the economy much more efficient (like health care) is part of that.  Not wasting time on the wrong things (out of Iraq now, immigration) is part of that.

    I don't see how anyone except the President is in a position to move Congress on these things, by embarrassing them to their faces with facts, direct to the citizens on TV, every week.

    A regular stint on Keith Olbermann is not going to get the right audience.

    by NHlib on Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 12:22:22 PM PDT

•  He Should Follow His Heart

  Al deserves it.

  by owl06 on Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 12:04:35 PM PDT