Dear Vice President Gore:
I am sure you have been receiving many letters, e-mails, and phone calls similar to this one. I am writing to ask you, no, plead with you to step back into the limelight for a moment or two in order to do two things:
First, to endorse Senator Barack Obama for President.
Second, to publically say that it is time for the race for the Democratic nomination to end that Senator Hillary Clinton should face the realization that she can surpass Senator Obama in elected delegates.
Bear with me as I explain my views.
Until the South Carolina primary, I was truly undecided as to who to support in this contest. My first choice- you- decided not to run. After that, I felt that Senator Biden or Governor Richardson would be good choices, but I really did not believe they had any real chance of winning. Sure enough the choice came down to Senators Obama and Clinton.
I was big supporter of Senator Clinton. I voted for her twice for Senate here in New York. I was also a big supporter of the Clinton/Gore ticket in 1992 and 1996. (I must say that it was your joining the ticket that made me most happy 16 years ago. I voted for you in 1988 in the New York primary.) I have felt that Senator Clinton has done a great job getting to know New York state, its people and its problems.
Like most Americans I first truly introduced to Senator Obama through his convention speech in 2004. I was mesmerized. Now, I am a high school history teacher and I can make a good comparison to some great orators of the past. Senator Obama ranks up there with the best- Kennedy, Roosevelt, Churchill, and yes, Reagan. I remember calling a friend after that speech and saying this guy is going to be president one day. I was surprised to seem him run this year. Yet, the more I saw of him the more I liked him. His proposals are progressive yet they come from no solid ideology, they a drawn from pure common sense.
Yet, as the race began I was torn like so many others. A return to the fiscal sanity and common sense of the Clinton years was desired, yet Obama represented something so new, so daring it was hard to go against it. Then came South Carolina. President Clinton’s remarks in the wake of that primary shocked me. If there was ever a deciding moment it was that. I was so disappointed in President Clinton’s "Jesse Jackson" remark, that I felt I could no longer consider supporting Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
With that moment, my attention to the race increased dramatically. As I listened to the two campaigns, I realized that Hillary is not Bill, that it is 2008 and not 1992 and return to the nineties and the drama of that era is the last thing we need today. Beyond all that, there has always been one item- a fact as far as I am concerned that Hillary can never live down. She is Hillary Clinton, the most polarizing figure in American politics.
I don’t say that to insult her, I say it because at least half this country just will never vote for her. I am firmly convinced of that. The Republicans seem to know this too and desperately want her as our nominee. In fact, as I am sure you know, Rush Limbaugh is pushing his listeners to vote for her where they can. His rantings seem to have some effect in the Texas and Mississippi primaries.
On the other hand, Senator Obama has drawn millions of new voters to the polls. I have been a teacher for 23 years, I have never seen students of all levels so interested in an election cycle. Even for the more advanced students, not since 1992 have they had so many questions and been so interested. And every single one of them likes Senator Obama over Senator Clinton or Senator McCain. We have the opportunity to bring an entire generation into the Democratic party, or a chance to lose them forever. The same is true of the massive African-American vote this year for Senator Obama.
But all that aside, what has finally got me to sit down and write to you have been the remarks by Geraldine Ferraro, and the obvious pattern and playing up of race and fear by Clinton campaign. It sounds trite to say it, but is true, if someone didn’t know any better, they would think Karl Rove was the master of the Clinton strategy.
For the first time in the long story of our nation we have the chance to transcend one of the most horrible aspects of that history- racism and prejudice. Senator Obama is running a campaign that goes above even the mere mention of race. He has never run as the "black candidate" but as the candidate who just happens to be black. Beaten by him in 30 of the 44 races so far, the Clinton campaign has resorted to the lowest form of race baiting and sewer politics in a last ditch effort to eek out enough delegates to then try and get the superdelegates to hand them the nomination.
I truly fear it could happen. If it does, we might as well just swear in Senator McCain at the Democratic convention because I am 100% certain he will win the general election against her as the Republican party simply tears her to shreads. Nothing will unite the GOP like a Clinton as the opposition.
The fighting between the Obama and Clinton campaigns is truly starting to tear the party apart. Senator McCain is going around solidifying his support, raising money, and watching us tear each other apart. This must stop.
There is no doubt as to where this started. The Clinton campaign in my opinion bears 100% of blame. They are the ones who have tried to twist the numbers as if one plus one equals five; they have brought race into the race; they have run the negative ads; they have whined and complained about everything as if the nomination was to be handed to them on a silver platter.
There are a few people who can possibly get this end- Senators Biden or Reid, Governor Richardson, Speaker Pelosi. Yet, there is just one person could make it end immediately- you Mr. Gore are that person.
Go back and do the two things I ask and the Clinton campaign falls apart. Your endorsement of Obama would open the door to dozens of superdelegates to follow your lead. You are real leader of the Democratic Party. We should be electing your successor this year. We should be all but coasting to the White House in the wake of one of the most unpopular, most mismanaged, most irresponsible administrations in the history of the nation. Yet, in letting the Clinton campaign rip the party apart when there is no real chance of them gaining a lead in pledged delegates, a slim if any chance of their gaining the lead in the total popular vote, we are letting our best chance since 1992 to slip away.
If we continue down this road, the GOP will win the White House. The war in Iraq will continue. Action against climate change will go nowhere. Our deficits and national debt will continue to soar. The Supreme Court and other federal courts will move further and further to the right. What little respect the rest of the world has left for us after the last eight years will disappear completely.
I beg you Mr. Gore, join the Obama campaign. It is part of what you have always been part of- the future.