Dear Vice President Gore

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.

•  I can't believe the democratic party

  Crickets, crickets, crickets.

  everyone of them should have distanced themselves from the Clinton campaign.

  Are they that scared of the Clintons?

  by jalapeno on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:29:14 PM PDT

  •  Yes

    Look to the money backers.

    What if the Clintons dam up the flow?

    by redtex on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:35:32 PM PDT

  •  i think they are a lot more immune to Obama

    Being professional pols, I don't think they get as riled up by Obama's populist tactics. They've all read good speeches, they've all had a good time playing the who's the racist game. I think the Obama effect is designed mostly for the people who feel left out by the process, not the people running it.

    by Marcion on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:45:06 PM PDT

    •  No, I don't think so. It's fear or something.

      Look, not many people in Washington like the Clintons. For people like Gore and Pelosi, it might be that their seniority encourages them to remain neutral. For others, it's just plain fear or the feeling of owing.

      I can't find a link, but Jonathan Alter said on MSNBC that when Gore was asked who he would endorse, he said he didn't know if he would endorse, and when they asked if he would endorse Clinton, he said "No."

      Then there's Bill Richardson. Who said, "I've paid my dues to the Clintons." Who let it leak that Bill called his office and said, "Isn't two cabinet positions enough?"

      And it's not rocket science to know who Nancy Pelosi is soft on.

      Now if they were only brave enough to come forward.

      by LJW on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 06:12:20 PM PDT

      •  oops I forgot the link

        about Bill's angry phone call to Richardson

        by LJW on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 06:13:15 PM PDT

•  We need letters like this one from all Kossacks

  by Spruce on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:29:53 PM PDT

•  as I've said before

  a lot more people wanted Gore to run for president than ever wanted him to endorse Obama.

  They gathered signatures to put him on the ballot in multiple states, ran radio and TV ads, and took out a full-page ad in the NYT urging him to run. Everywhere he went, he was mobbed by supporters urging him to jump in.

  That didn't change his decision one bit. He told us to stop trying to put him on the ballot.

  And now you think the pleas of a few bloggers will pry an Obama endorsement out of him if he's decided to stay neutral?

  You're going to have to do a whole lot better than that if you even want to have a prayer of changing his mind.

  by limpidglass on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:30:32 PM PDT

  •  Perhaps not

    but it's worth a try.

    by TLS66 on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:34:38 PM PDT

    •  if the Obama supporters really want it

      they're going to have to try much harder than a few blog posts.

      As someone who personally handed a letter to Gore urging him to run, and spent many hours canvassing for signatures to put him on the ballot, I cannot say that this diary constitutes anything like the kind of effort the Draft Gore people put into trying to persuade him to run.

      And in any case, I suspect Gore has looked at the situation and decided that it won't tear the party apart to allow it to continue. He's no fool; if he thought this primary contest would ensure a McCain presidency, he would have intervened long ago.

      by limpidglass on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:43:17 PM PDT

  •  Well...it takes a lot longer to run for president

    than to make an endorsement, especially if you win.

    by Wit Whither Wilt on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:52:17 PM PDT

  •  This is different

    Beyond the environment, one thing that is supremely important to Al Gore is the Democratic Party. And make no mistake, the very fate of the party hangs on how the rest of the nominating process goes.

    A smooth and gracious withdrawal by Hillary, before Pennsylvania votes next month, and we could very well be facing an extended Democratic majority in both houses of Congress with a sitting Democratic President.

    A bitter, racially divisive battle to the death between both candidates and this party will implode and half its members will sit on their hands (at best) this fall.We will probably be facing a McCain Presidency and all that it portends.

    Would Al Gore do something to about that if he could? You bet your ass.

    by Montco PA Dem on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:53:35 PM PDT

    •  well, Gore seems to think otherwise

      or if he agrees with you, he's limited himself to working behind the scenes.

      Because he has made no overt move, and is apparently content to sit tight for the time being while the contest continues. Same for Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Biden, Richardson, and Edwards.

      This primary won't tear the Democrats apart. There will be a nominee and that nominee will be supported by the majority of Democrats.

      by limpidglass on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 06:03:12 PM PDT

      •  I hope you're right

        But if the Ferraro debacle is just a kick-off, I can't imagine (and don't want to, either) how ugly this thing could get.

        I don't see any path to a nomination for Hillary that does not cause a complete meltdown.

        by Montco PA Dem on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 06:20:27 PM PDT

•  Tips?

  My first diary post...

  Be gentle :)

  by oxfdblue on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:31:36 PM PDT

  •  On A Hopeful Note

    We do not know the private conversations of the Big Guys/Gals and how they may be exerting quiet pressure on HRC & WJC to get the hell out of Dodge.

    I'm hopeful that the Biggies are being publicly quiet because they are kind and generous, not wishing to publicly humiliate HRC, as she was in 1998 & 1999. I give them that benefit of the doubt for no other reason than that they are Democrats.

    But I am also hopeful that if HRC doesn't voluntarily withdraw herself from this race, soon, that the wrath of We, the People, combined with the Powers-that-Be, will rise up & force her out & stop the ugliness.

    Monster, Inc. MUST be stopped. Either quietly or, if need be, Loudly, with pride and joy.  

    by Empower Ink on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 06:09:35 PM PDT

  •  Snail mail addy

    Al Gore
    2100 West End Ave, Ste 620
    Nashville, TN 37203

    by oxfdblue on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 06:22:12 PM PDT

•  I don't have it handy...

  can somebody post the snail mail address of his office?

  by blueyedace2 on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 05:54:59 PM PDT

•  You mean...

  PRESIDENT Gore, don't you?  ;-)

  by jillian on Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 06:13:08 PM PDT

•  Folks, Clinton has already done damage

  to Obama. It's disgusting what her operatives have thrown out there, but she has already made Obama "damage goods". And guess what? There are still 6 weeks before the PA Primary that she can finish him off.
  So I know this is hard for you Obama supporters, but the reality is you shouldn't worry about Gore endorsing. What you should do is hope for a Deadlock Convention and that Gore becomes the Comprise Candidate with Obama as his running mate. That now is the only way you will see a President Obama eventually. It's not that we all think Gore "walks on water" as though you do with Obama...No, it's just that few options are left if we want a Democrat in the White House in 2008.

  by andrewv1 on Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 07:16:33 AM PDT