I have always had a soft spot for Al Gore because in our hearts we’re passionate about the same thing. Journalism.
Unlike most journalists, of course, Gore was pulled by a family obligation into another direction, into politics. His 1970 Vietnam service was heavily publicized, in an effort to get his father re-elected to the Senate. It didn’t work. This made him the carrier of the family flag, and he took it as far as he could go, but with the 2000 debacle, and the death of his parents, the obligation is finally discharged. And Al Gore Jr. could go back to being what he really wanted to be all along.
Gore has been a journalist all his life. He went to Vietnam as a journalist. He studied journalism at Vanderbilt and then went to the Nashville Tennessean. As a Congressman and Senator he worked mainly as a journalist — gathering facts and finding recognizable stories in them.
While many journalists, myself included, move from story-to-story, however, Gore has always gone back to one story. Global warming. It was at the heart of his best Senate speeches, it was at the heart of his two Presidential campaigns, it was the center of his work with President Clinton. And when the 2000 election was stolen from him — yes, stolen — he went back to his first love, to his story. He learned to tell it so he could do it in his sleep, and he stayed on the beat, adding new information all the time. Given his prominence he was able to get the best sources.
He was right in what he said to Congress yesterday. "Rin Tin Tin was a movie star. I just have a slideshow."
But it’s a really good slideshow. After 30 years of work, it should be.
(The original Rin Tin Tin, at left, was a silent film star. The ones you saw on TV were imitations.)
Very few journalists have ever had the willingness to stick out a story
for as long as Gore has, especially when, for so long, there was no
market for it. Now that there is a market for it, now that the story is
resonating, now that real action is possible around the world, why
should he return to the rough-and-tumble of politics, the quick
insults, the constant holding-in of feelings that made him feel, and
act, wooden?
The only thing which could get him back would be a refusal by leading
Democratic candidates to embrace his message. But he hasn’t seen that.
None has come out and said, we’re going to do all of this, but all have
acknowledged the problems he’s pointed out, and indicated a willingness
to move in the direction he seeks. That’s all a journalist can ask for.
If Obama or Edwards would say, tomorrow or next week, that they endorse
his ideas for a War Against Oil, and will implement all of them if
elected, and will seek Gore’s help in making it happen, they could get
an endorsement. If they haven’t done this by summer, Gore should find a personal trainer from one of his Hollywood pals and start dropping pounds until someone does make the promise.
Because Al Gore really doesn’t want to be President any more.
