SPRING BREAK BLOG: “Is Al Gore the Answer?”
Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2008
By Joe Klein
Unlike Barack Obama, Bill Clinton does not believe in “the fierce urgency of now.” The former President has an exquisitely languid sense of how political time unfurls. He understands that those moments the political community, especially the media, considers urgent usually aren’t. He has seen his own election and reelection—and completing his second term—pronounced “impossible” and lived to tell the tale. He remembers that in spring 1992 he had pretty much won the Democratic nomination but was considered a dead man walking, running third behind Bush the Elder and Ross Perot. He knows that April is the silly season in presidential politics, the moment when candidates involved in a bruising primary battle seem weakest and bloodied, as both Hillary Clinton and Obama do now. It’s the moment when pundits demand action—”Drop out, Hillary!”—and propound foolish theories. And so I’m rather embarrassed to admit that I’m slouching toward, well, a theory: if this race continues to slide downhill, the answer to the Democratic Party’s dilemma may turn out to be Al Gore.
This April promises to be crueler than most. The two campaigns have started attacking each other with chainsaws, while the Republican John McCain is moving ahead in some national polls. At this point, Clinton can only win the nomination ugly: by superdelegates abandoning Obama and turning to her, in droves—not impossible, but not very likely either. Even if Clinton did overtake Obama, it would be very difficult for her to win the presidency: African Americans would never forgive her for “stealing” the nomination. They would simply stay home in November, as would the Obamista youth. (Although the former President is probably thinking: Yeah, but John McCain is a flagrantly flawed candidate too—I’d accept even a corrupted nomination and take my chances.)
Which is not to say that Clinton’s candidacy is entirely without purpose now that she is pursuing a Republican-style race gambit, questioning Obama’s 20-year relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah “God damn America” Wright. Democrats will soon learn how damaging that relationship might be in a general election. They’ll also see if Obama has the gumption to bounce back, work hard—not just arena rallies for college kids but roundtables for the grizzled and unemployed in American Legion halls—and change the minds that have turned against him. The main reason superdelegates have not yet rallied round Obama is that the party is collectively holding its breath, waiting to see how he performs in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana.
He will probably do well enough to secure the nomination. But what if he tanks? What if he can’t buy a white working-class vote? What if he loses all three states badly and continues to lose after that? I’d guess that the Democratic Party would still give him the nomination rather than turn to Clinton. But no one would be very happy—and a year that should have been an easy Democratic victory, given the state of the economy and the unpopularity of the incumbent, might slip away.
Which brings us back to Al Gore. Pish-tosh, you say, and you’re probably right. But let’s play a little. Let’s say the elders of the Democratic Party decide, when the primaries end, that neither Obama nor Clinton is viable. Let’s also assume—and this may be a real stretch—that such elders are strong and smart enough to act. All they’d have to do would be to convince a significant fraction of their superdelegate friends, maybe fewer than 100, to announce that they were taking a pass on the first ballot at the Denver convention, which would deny the 2,025 votes necessary to Obama or Clinton. What if they then approached Gore and asked him to be the nominee, for the good of the party—and suggested that he take Obama as his running mate? Of course, Obama would have to be a party to the deal and bring his 1,900 or so delegates along.
I played out that scenario with about a dozen prominent Democrats recently, from various sectors of the party, including both Obama and Clinton partisans. Most said it was extremely unlikely … and a pretty interesting idea. A prominent fund raiser told me, “Gore-Obama is the ticket a lot of people wanted in the first place.” A congressional Democrat told me, “This could be our way out of a mess.” Others suggested Gore was painfully aware of his limitations as a candidate. “I don’t know that he’d be interested, even if you handed it to him,” said a Gore friend. Chances are, no one will hand it to him. The Democratic Party would have to be monumentally desperate come June. And yet … is this scenario any more preposterous than the one that gave John McCain the Republican nomination? Yes, it’s silly season. But this has been an exceptionally “silly” year.
I hate clichés. Hate them. But I will use one anyways, so prepare to roll your eyes: I hate to say I told you so (okay, no I don’t), but I told you so. Over the summer I said that Al Gore would not run for President, but that he could rise from the depths to save a divided Democratic Party as their nominee, and finally get inaugurated 8 years after he won. (Get it? Because he “actually” won in 2000.) This unlikely scenario reminds me of 1968, when the Dems’ strongest two candidates, Bobby Kennedy and LBJ, died and dropped out, resulting in Hubert Humphrey (the former Vice President… sound familiar? No Nobel Prize though…) stumbling into the nomination, the election, and getting stomped by Tricky Dick Nixon, who turned out to be an excellent president. Top 10 at least. That election was very painful for the Democrats as this very election could be. I agree with some of the pundits—self-proclaimed political experts as we learned in class—that Hillary should drop out. (I’ve been saying this too for some time now. It’s like the author picked my brain with some sort of new technology and then put all of my ideas onto paper is some mad moneymaking scheme.) The Democrats should be focusing on November at this point as the Republicans are. Polls have shown that Hillary and Barack are both dropping in their ability to go head to head with McCain. When it became clear that Hillary was going to lose the nomination, oh, a month ago, she should have dropped out graciously and saved face. Instead, Democrats are hoping for a miracle. Maybe not a huge, 1969 New York Mets miracle, but a miracle nevertheless.
NC – Proof Read
As I was reading this article they brought up some pretty interesting thing and other thing that I new and are getting a little boring. We already know that Obama might not win as a black man in a white world and we also know Hillary will have just as hard of a change in a mans world. They say that Barack will have the better change by bringing out the youth voters, as it will be their biggest turn out in history.
Yes McCain seem to be the candidate to win right now, he got a head start on both of them and leans more moderate than both, well that the way Hillary’s making it out to be. I’m sorry if I’m a little biased against Hillary, but she sabotaging Barack campaign, and for that matter the Democratic Party. She needs to drop out and unite the party. Barack will win this thing for us.
Back to what really matter. I am an avid Obama supporter and even though what this article talked about is hypothetical and very unlikely, I like, no I love it. The idea to me that if neither of the candidate could figure it out at the national convention, to elected the most popular candidate in recent history would be amazing, and I think would work. Al Gore won the popular vote by .6%, almost one million votes to the most unpopular president in history. The way that it could be planned to happen would really unite the party and democrats would have a for sure win. The only question raised is who would get to be V.P., Hillary or Barack?
I definitely think this article is a stretch at times. It especially lost me when in toyed with the idea of Gore choosing Obama as a running mate and running for the Presidency. I don’t think Obama would ever be desperate enough to sacrifice his nearly 2,000 delegates, and two years of hard work, for the Vice Presidency. However, minus the Al Gore scenario, this article brought up some pretty good points. What if Obama does collapse in the upcoming primaries, including Pennsylvania? Then, the Democratic race would be depending on the superdelegates alone to determine the candidate. Unlike the popular vote, it is hard to predict how or where the Superdelegates will go. Early on in the race, it looked like the Superdelegates leaned in favor towards Clinton, due to her experience, but as Obama collects more and more of the popular vote, that may not be necessarily true anymore. I am very anxious to see how the upcoming primaries turn out because a lot is riding on them. If Obama can pull ahead, even if it just by a small margin, the race will likely be over for Clinton. But, if Clinton can hold her lead in these states, the Democratic nomination could become even more complicated then it already is.
NC – Connection
I found this article quite interesting mainly because it was true, unlike most articles. I agree the only way the Democrats can salvage what chances a dem will get into the white house is to bring in their big guns Al Gore. Clinton and Obama were busy hacking at each other trying to gain the nomination when clearly Clinton was out of the running. She should of just dropped out and let Obama have it, with the momentum he had he could of easily took the white house in my opinion, but now the democrats only hope is Al Gore to resurrect what Clinton and Obama destroyed, the liberal movement through this nation. Well Clinton really screwed over the Democrats this time. I really have no idea why she wouldn’t want Obama in the white house they vote very similar. I have no complaints though because it just shows the lack of political knowledge that a candinate needs in order to win an election. Hopefully Americans will realize the shear stubbornness and inexperience the Democratic candidates have and vote for someone who managed to keep his political poise throughout his entire campaign. Got to love how unorganized the Democratic party is.
I have to admit that this is the most interesting political idea I have heard since people proposed a Clinton and Obama ticket. I can’t say that I am for the idea but nether can say I’m against it. This coming nomination and election is expected to be of the most anticipated and historical events since the 2000 election. The only problem with the election is that democrats might lose the presidency again if they are careless. John McCain, the republican candidate, isn’t really a strong candidate. He doesn’t have the charisma that makes him an attractive choice nor is he a dynamic orator. What he does have working for his is his nice, honest guy appeal. For a presidential election that usually doesn’t make much of a difference. However it might in this coming election. With the democratic race running as it is there may be some hard feelings left behind. The winning democratic nominee might be labeled as the Antichrist and shunned by democratic voters who were going for the other candidate. Maybe they would be so pissed that they might vote for a republican instead. One possibility that hasn’t been looked at with the hypothetical nominee Gore is that people might think he stole the nomination from a deserved candidate. Let’s just hope that this is me being pessimistic.
I do not think that the Gore-Obama ticket will follow through because I remember having a discussion in class about how a Democratic candidate has only one chance to run for President. If he or she loses, then they are out of the race for good. Al Gore had his chance to run for President in the election of 2000, but he lost so the chances for Gore to receive the nomination again are unlikely. Also I really don’t think that Obama would be desperate enough to give up all his delegates to Gore after all his hard work just to become vice president. Regardless of the scenario, the Democrats are known for screwing up. For example, in the election of 2004 the Democrats were suspected to win by a long shot, but they threw in John Kerry, an average candidate, thinking that they would win easily; however, Bush ended up getting the presidency again. This upcoming election, the Democrats, once again, are suspected to win, but there are number of ways that they can screw it up and this article gave a few interesting points. The article mentioned, “what if [Obama] tanks? What if [Obama] can’t buy a white working-class vote? What if [Obama] loses all three states badly and continues to lose after that? I’d guess that the Democratic Party would still give [Obama] the nomination rather than turn to Clinton. But no one would be very happy—and a year that should have been an easy Democratic victory, given the state of the economy and the unpopularity of the incumbent, might slip away.” There are numerous ways that the Democrats could screw up and it is going to be interesting on how they are going to get their party reorganized.
NC – Connection
This guy is making a lot of projections. In order for Al Gore to become the dark horse candidate, he even admits Obama would have to start doing poorly in the primaries. Besides, who knows how resentful the voters would be if a the nominee was someone no one voted for in the primaries. Now, I love Al Gore and wouldn’t mind in the least if he were our president, but the Democratic party has to be careful NOT TO DROP THE BALL THIS YEAR. Seriously, it’s as if they find ways to lose. But not this year. The democrats have the opportunity to nominate a historic candidate this year, and nominating another middle-aged, white male might make some voters feel robbed of the opportunity to take part in a historic moment. Maybe a better move is to nominate either Obama or Hillary, and make Al Gore a running mate. Taking the author’s idea into consideration, I am curious to see what kind of a campaign Al Gore would run against John McCain (lovable war vet vs. lovable environmental savior).
Imagine this. The Democratic Party runs the primary season like the Republicans do. Obama would have become the nominee a long time ago, and it would be onward to the conventions with Obama and McCain as the two opponents. But of course the democrats had to ban delegates from Michigan and Florida (that really could matter after all), and have zero winner take all states. The result? No nominee, no clear-cut front runner (although the scale leans a little toward Obama), and the possibility that neither candidate will reach 2,025 delegates.
This truly is the Democratic Party’s fault.
You know also, if the Democrats acted like the Republicans, it would be Al Gore’s turn to be the nominee. That seems to be pretty much how the Republicans seem to operate; last time it was Bush’s turn, this time McCain’s, and next time probably Mitt or Mike.
But anyway, about Al Gore. In class we always talked about John Edwards being the savior for the Democrats. I think we said that was because he’s experienced and can probably unify the party. So why are we bringing up Al Gore all of a sudden? I don’t know. I don’t think he’d be a good choice, in my opinion. First of all, would his views and issues be pertinent to today, or 2000? Iraq was not an issue in 2000. We had a budget surplus in 2000. And the climate was not that big of an issue either; it still isn’t – the climate is the smallest issue dealing with the campaign in 2008. The biggest issues right now are Iraq, the economy, immigration, and health care. Basically my point is that Gore might not be “qualified” to run in this election.
-Jason Wong
At the beginning of this election year, Al Gore is exactly the person I wanted to vote for in the Primary and Caucuses. When I found out that he did not want to seek election, sure I was bummed, but I remained hopeful nonetheless for exactly this type of event to take place forcing him into office. (Well not forcing, but at least convincing him to unite the party.) I don’t get my hopes up too high, however, because the chance of this happening is very, very slim. Unless somehow, Gore is actually controlling Hillary and convincing her to stay in the race just to keep the party divided, I doubt this plan will really come through. As a friend of Gore’s said in the article, “I don’t know that he’d be interested, even if you handed it to him.” But you never really know. I think that’s the point the author was trying to make. Anything can happen especially this year with all the “silliness” already. This article does seem somewhat pointless to me because it is definitely not news its just people wasting their writing skills on worthless possibilities. Sounds a lot like every blog out there though I guess.
My connection on this topic is about a vocabulary term we had a while back: Legitimacy – A characterization of elections by political scientists meaning that they are almost universally accepted as a fair and free method of selecting political leaders. When legitimacy is high, as in the United States, even the losers accept the results peacefully.
WOW, WOW, WOW, what a situation to be in. I think that if this happens and that Gore actually becomes President I would be in utter shock. I think that this “dark Horse” nomination is a little to far fetch. I also think that this may get the Democrats into some hot water with getting elected. If it was me I would have to think long and hard before I voted for a Dark horse candidate in the actually election because I would feel very uncertain of the real satiability of our party and whether or not it really would be the best thing for our nation, and if people think like this I really don’t think that Al Gore could manage another defeat I think he would go ever further over the deep end then when he lost the 2000 election. This could be a very good thing for republicans though, for some reason the dems no matter what find a way to make such a sure win in to a close race. I think that if the dems do lose there will be a major change in the way the part is run so that they feel like they will be able to take the next election without a doubt.
Great idea and maybe while Gore is in the White House he can make some improvements on the Internet!!… or maybe he can score himself another Nobel peace prize by solving global warming. Seriously though, get real, Gore has had his shots and failed miserably. Some say stolen elections, I say pish-poush. He couldn’t even secure his home state in the 2000 election. Any one who seriously thinks he is the ticket out of this mess is crazy. Then again is there really even a mess to begin with. It seems like to me that there’s no news, no big stories, no more big controversy or scandal, so lets just write about new fears (which we already had?). I mean since the beginning people have feared that Hillary could not make in a man’s world and that Obama could not win the white mans vote. It just seems to me that this is old news being spun in a new light by throwing in an old idea (aka bringing Gore back). Its funny how people can write something, about nothing. All i can say is give me a break and just let Al Gore be.
Mallory Brown
A thousand times no! I do not think that this country could handle having Al Gore as the Democratic candidate – not after giving the GOP nomination to John McCain (a strange and unexplainable occurrence). When we have talked about the Goracle in class, he no longer seemed as presidential candidate material, but more of a celebrity, with his “An Inconvenient Truth” film. And indeed in today’s society, he has emerged as an icon that has evolved and become unrelated to the presidency. And I think that Mr. Klein’s theory is indeed just that – a theory, which he himself admitted that was generally shot down by prominent Democratic figures. I personally think that it is kind of laughable that he thinks a good ticket would be Gore – Obama. If anything, the ticket would go Obama – Gore, but I don’t event think that that is feasible.
One think that Mr. Klein is right on is the fact that the party is extremely divided right now, and this month is sure to be rough on both of the candidates. But just to be clear, I don’t think that Gore is going to be in the picture any time soon.
~Liz
In my opinion, this article is makes no sense at all. Why would Barack Obama sacrifice all this hard work and his nearly 2,000 delegates for the Vice Presidency so that Al Gore can be President? We threw around the idea of Al Gore being Vice President to Barack Obama and we all agreed it wouldn’t work out. The idea looks great on paper since Al Gore appeals to mostly everyone, but I don’t think they would both agree on certain things. Al Gore wants to be in the spotlight and not second fiddle to someone else. I don’t think Barack Obama would ever want to be Vice President because he has his mind set on being President of the United States. If he did ever stoop down to Vice President for Al Gore in this crazy scenario, someone would have to smack Barack Obama on the head like one of those V8 commercials. Even Al Gore has said on a You Tube video that he will not run for President. Just imagine if Al Gore was in this race with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The Democratic race would go down to the wire if it did happen, or maybe Obama and Clinton wouldn’t be in the race at all.