What if Al Gore were to become the most powerful Secretary of the Environment ever?

Could it happen? Should it happen?

Would Al find such a position to be beneath him? Would he even be interested? Would whomever the president is feel too threatened by such a high level person serving on his or her cabinet?

Discuss.

On edit: I meant EPA chief, not Secretary of the Environment. But you catch my drift.

i dont see him ever taking a cabinet position ... or seriously offered one for that matter.

But the only person i can see doing it would be Hillary Clinton to shore up her support among, well, people like us. Any other president wouldn't be strong enough and wouldn't have as much problems with people like us. I think he might take it - this issue is important to him, and it would give him influence over the most problematic economcy in the world.

Bryant

and he was limited then at what he could accomplish, so I highly doubt he would consider a lower post in government than the Presidency.

He'd be the first, so he'd have to be the most powerful, by default. He won't take a cabinet job anyway.

Although a Secretary of the Environment position created just for Al could have some cache.

or Secretary of the Interior.

possibility of running for President, he has been quite clear about this:


(from the Larry King Show on CNN, May 22, 2007)

KING: Let me get another call in from Lexington, Kentucky. Hello.

CALLER: Thank you, Mr. King.

Mr. Gore, given the foreign policy expertise that you have exhibited on Mr. King's show tonight and the expertise that you gave to the administration of President Bill Clinton, would you consider the secretary of state position in a Democratic presidential administration?

GORE: Thank you for your kind words, but, no.

KING: No cabinet position?

GORE: No.

KING: No federal position?

GORE: No. Not because I don't have the greatest respect for what an honor it would be to serve in such a position, but I have -- I have zero interest in doing something like that.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/22/lkl.01.html

Damn, people irritate the hell out of me.

ASSUME makes an ASS of YOU and ME.

(talking about the other Gore thread).

Why do people think that a former VP who WON a Presidential election would want such a shitty job?

Cabinet positions are NOT 'all that.' Ambassadorships, though, are--if they are the right ones. The prize is UN Ambassador. China, Russia, LONDON, ITALY, FRANCE, GERMANY (in all caps, those are FUN, FUN, FUN and high status, too--the others are hard work and high status), those are good plums too.

But who the fuck wants to line up behind, say, Norm Mineta (no offense, Norm) to go into the room?

It's SMALL potatoes to a guy who has won a NOBEL and is a world authority. It's like suggesting that Martha Stewart take on a chambermaid job at the Motel 6, because she knows a thing or two about homemaking.

Al Gore has "NO PLANS" to run. He has not said "No fucking way" yet. Despite that misleading splotch on the front page of DU here, with all those nonsensical recommendations. There's no LBN-NEWS in that story--he's simply repeated what he has always said.

Still too soon to rule him out, even though you can't rule him in.

Richard Nixon created the EPA. One of the numerous things Nixon did that actually made decent sense, the fact he was a crook and prolonged the Vietnam war notwithstanding.

Goes to show Nixon is freakin' Lincoln or Washington when compared to GW Bush.

Nixon did do a good thing, there, creating the EPA, but he NEEDED to. It was past due.

Being head of that agency isn't a job for Gore, though. THat's working well below his paygrade.

The Congress has tried to elevate EPA to Cabinet level at least twice, without success.

If given free reign by the President. It might not be much now, but if anyone could go in and make something of the position and increase its visibility and effectiveness, it would be Al Gore.

Here in Florida, we had an excellent Attorney General by the name of Bob Butterworth, who termed out in 2002. He really should have been Governor, because he was that qualified and that well-respected, but certain factors kept him from running. Last year, our governor (our Republican governor, no less) chose Butterworth to head up the Department of Children and Family Services, a troubled department that had been totally (and I believe purposefully) run into the ground by Jeb Bush. The feeling was, if anyone could get DCF to get it's act together, it would be Bob Butterworth. Not the most glamourous position, but one where only an expert could handle and do the job well. And so far, DCF has seen notable improvements under Butterworth.

Same goes for Al Gore. It's not President, but its a job Al would know well and do very well in. He could even become something of a "global environmental ambassador" for the U.S., and earn back some much needed respect that has been lost the past 6 years.

Security Council.

The President wouldn't give him free "rein." http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=free%20rein

The President would want to be lead dog and take the credit. That's how it works. You have the authority and responsibility, you delegate the duties to a loyal worker, and YOU, not the worker, get the credit or the blame. That's why Rumsfeld's very specific cockups in Iraq sit like a pile of shit on the Monkey's desk.

All departments have budgets, and you'd have to CREATE a budget for a cabinet position that doesn't EXIST yet. It took years for DHS to get a budget that wasn't STOLEN from other cabinet funds. For the longest time, all DHS did was say "Threat Condition ORANGE" anytime there was bad news, or DUCT TAPE and PLASTIC SHEETS when they needed to distract.

Gore and Clinton SHRUNK the federal government--I can't see him getting on the expansion bus, assuming he lost his mind and took such a post.

And no cabinet member would look kindly to being pushed down the pecking order. There would be infighting and resentment. You may not think it makes a diff, but it does.

That's why Gore has said he WILL NOT (not 'has no plans to'--he WILL NOT) take a cabinet post. Because the ONLY one that's big enough for him is the lead job--STATE--and that's not where his interest lies.

So fuggedaboutit.

And you may have valid points here.

But he's not running for President, either. I hate to burst your bubble, but he's not.

And I'd just like to see him in some position of environmental policy making. And if it means elevating the EPA from a regulatory organization to a cabinet level policy-making position, I'm all for it. Because environmental policy is going to be key in the future, and Al Gore is the best guy for being the official face of environmental policy. I'd say he'd be more qualified for that than President (to which he is also qualified, don't get me wrong.)

ruled it out, like some are claiming.

"NO PLANS" means what it means. It ain't a Sherman statement.

If he had ruled out running, he'd say what William Tecumseh Sherman did. And he hasn't.

He just keeps saying the same thing, no PLANS. Not "Hell, no." He IS keeping his options open.

EPA has twice gone to Congress for elevation. It's been slapped down twice. It's a regulatory agency, not an idea farm. The only way they could make it fly is to combine the Environmental concept with another agency, like INTERIOR, designate Interior as a subagency under ENVIRONMENT, and retool the whole shebang as an uber-department with disparate agencies under it.

EPA is not cabinet level, and Congress has twice refused to elevate it. It's a REGULATORY agency, a job where a career wonk enforces rules and regulations, not a job where ideas are floated and new strategies are put forth.