Whoever the next President is, he or she will be tested by history with one question: Did you play Augustus to Bush's Caesar?
The 'Bush Error' will be written into history as either a short period of imperial tendency by one President or the beginning of a new Presidential era in which the Presidency continually redraws the lines of our checks and balances.
Inheriting the moral equivalent of the Great Depression, the next President will sit on a fulcrum in American history. Whether they like it or not, whether they're good at it or not, they will sit on the tipping point between our constitutional American tradition and the historical tendency of Republics to become... something else.
Indeed, there is a calling for a great President. But what will the next President have to do to be a great President? Restore America's credibility in the world. Restore the rule of law. Inspire the American people.
Out of 300 million plus Americans, I can think of only one who will make a great President - the kind that ends up on your money.
The specific challenges that the next President will face can never really be known until January 2009. But I think it's safe to say these three are guaranteed:
Reestablish America's credibility in the world by returning to diplomacy.
Align the energy, security and environmental policies of the United States.
Restore trust in our government and our leaders.
To fall even marginally short of these goals could lead to short-term and long-term disaster for America. I have no doubt that Al Gore is the only candidate (potential of course) who can achieve those goals. He is principled, intellectual and aggressive.
Return to Diplomacy
When writing and commenting around Daily Kos and other sites, I find that the comments that get the most tips are those that state: Al Gore will restore America's place in the international community. Al Gore will use the American Presidency for good in the world.
Having seen the contrast between Al Gore and George W. Bush at the UN conference this week highlights why the quality of Gore's statesmanship is hardly worth detailing. Al Gore launched the process for a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol to be negotiated in Bali. In the General Assembly, you could hear crickets as Bush lectured yawning international delegations on the war between "good and evil".
In the realm of diplomacy and world leadership, Al Gore is the quintessential Anti-Bush. He is respected by leaders around the globe. He represents to the rest of the world the best of what we've got.
A Unified Energy-Security-Environmental Policy
America is threatened by our dependence on foreign oil. At risk of sounding like I'm currently reading Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival (which I am), I liken America's current resource demands to those of imperial Japan in the 1930s and 40s. If America continues to depend almost exclusively on foreign resources for fuel, it will inevitably lead us to more war.
But no one dares breathe mention of the unifying negative impact of oil dependency on our energy, security and environmental policies. This candidate is for or against nuclear power plants. She wouldn't say whether she'd invade Iran. He plants trees in New Hampshire. The current debate is dangerously myopic and hardly indicative of the high level thinking and planning that America needs in its next President.
Al Gore's career has been defined by his pursuit to understand the climate crisis and has, along the way, learned the political factors surrounding it. That career has brought him to the conclusion that America's energy, security and environmental policies must be unified behind the mantra of energy independence.
Al Gore has gobs of proven leadership on the issue of energy independence and that alone is reason enough to give him my vote. He will lead America on a nationwide mission to reduce our consumption of oil through an Apollo-like program.
America must be energy independent in order to save our species from suicide and end the aggressive imperial pursuit of a quickly vanishing resource. (And the effort would be a boon to the American economy.)
We won't accomplish energy independence without a President who understands its benefits on all levels.
Restore Trust
I never understood how much of our government is established on trust until Bush exploited it. An example would be signing statements. Yes, the President can write whatever he wants into the Federal Register in the middle of the night; but he shouldn't. After the lies that the Bush Administration have pulled on the American people, there is not an iota of trust in our government or our leaders.
I say often that I trust Al Gore and commenters will ask why. I'm often lazy in those replies because I haven't really given much thought to WHY I trust Al Gore. Trust is being confident that someone will be strong. And, in politics, strength requires an understanding of the issues. (At least, it used to be.)
Al Gore understands the historical context of the crisis we are facing. As evidenced in 'Assault on Reason' and in many of his speeches over the last several years, Al Gore does not only know what problems this country faces; he demonstrates an academic yet passionate understanding of the historical context of these problems. As people say today, Gore is meta. Here's a taste, what Al Gore says of the independence of the judiciary:
President Bush is hardly the first president to seek control over the federal judiciary. Indeed, the struggle between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson was partly about whether the Federalists or the anti-Federalists would control the majority of the judges. And Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried unsuccessfully to expand the size of the Supreme Court and "pack" it with justices who would support his New Deal agenda.
Rarely in prior American history, however, has there been anything like the assault on the independence of the judiciary that we have seen during the Bush-Cheney years. Moreover, the administration has supported the assault on judicial independence that has been conducted by Republicans in Congress who have undertaken legislative efforts to curtail the jurisdiction of courts in matters ranging from habeas corpus to the Pledge of Allegiance. In short, the administration has demonstrated its contempt for the judicial role and sought to evade judicial review of its actions at every turn.
He he. I'll tell ya. Al Gore has a reputation for being dry and lecturing. I'll take this kind of "dry and lecturing" any day. I will trust a President who acts based on a fundamental understanding of the issues.
I trust that Al Gore will always do what he thinks is right for America. I trust that Al Gore will not bend to GOP media narratives and political fad-ism. He will guide the agenda and tone of Washington because he will be trusted by the American people.
Al Gore isn't going to run for running's sake. He's not going to run for President because he wants to be President. Al Gore stands for something. He stands for the Liberal Revolution. He stands for what America is at its heart. If he was our next President, he would be a great President - the kind that ends up on your money.
Permalink | 55 comments