John Nichols: Announcing Al Gore (The Nation)

BLOG | Posted 02/26/2007 @ 12:18am
Announcing Al Gore


No, Al Gore did not make any major announcements Sunday night. But he certainly did not still speculation about the prospect that he might yet enter the 2008 presidential race.

The former vice president was never going to use the Academy Awards ceremony as a launching pad for a third presidential bid. In fact, no one familiar with the man could have imagined him even pondering such a stunt.

The senator's son who has always been a little too conscious of proper protocols would never play games with something so consequential as his last chance to be seriously considered for the Oval Office. He was at the ceremony to join the crew from "An Inconvenient Truth," as they collected the inevitable Oscar for best documentary.

And he was there to continue exploring popular reaction to the notion that he might again bid for the office that he won in the November, 2000, popular vote but lost in the December, 2000, Supreme Court vote. For Gore, it is a serious – and open – question.

But, because of the unique elder-statesman-slash-rock-star position in which he finds himself these days, Gore does not have to claw for approval – and money – in the way that New York Senator Hillary Clinton ☼, Illinois Senator Barack Obama ☼ and the rest of the formal contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination must. Gore knows he has time to make a decision; indeed, he knows that as long as he isn't running he will be just about everyone's favorite son.

For Al Gore, politics can finally be fun. And so it was Sunday night. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=169436

Sometimes you get kicked." :kick:

See, naysayers?

Sometimes a cigar is NOT just a cigar...

Gore's gonna get in.

This two-year intense Presidential cycle is a joke...or should I say, those who are paying serious attention to it are. There's still nearly a year until the first primary votes are cast and who knows how more screwed up things will be by then. Putting a measuring stick on the '08 election at this point is mental masturbation. This is the same corporate media that was ready to give the Repugnicans a veto-proof Senate AND House this time following the '04 elections...then came Schaivo, Katrina, Foley, Abramoff and so on. Hell, at this point before the '92 elections, the corporate media had all but annointed Mario Cuomo as the "can't beat" candidate. Yawn.

In '68, Robert Kennedy didn't announce until the first primaries had already concluded. Not that President Gore should wait that long, if he decides, but he still has a lot of time to see if it's worth it to go through another grueling campaign. Unlike most of the early runners, Gore doesn't need the massive amounts of cash...we know who he is...and surely Democratic primary voters do. Heck, you saw a lot of the Democratic Party's heaviest lifters sitting in that Hollywood audience last night.

I felt so good for President Gore last night...vindicated for his years of being the "wonk". This award was well deserved and he handled it better than a majority of the other acceptees (he said what he had to and got off). For me, the best moment of the night was Melissa winning...a triumph for the movie, the cause and a very brave, creative and still very vital lady.

make himself a target until he absolutely has to?

It's not like he needs to jump in the fray early to gain name recognition.