Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

That same mainstream media and not Karl Rove distorted Al Gore's assertion that he had claimed to have helped invent the Internet.  His actual and verifiably true statement was that he had helped generate the initial congressional funding that resulted in the Internet.

Rather than becoming embittered and sulking away from public life, Al Gore chose another route.  His campaign for the presidency made him aware of how much the American system needed to be changed to preserve a viable democracy in the new millennium.

Gore bluntly assessed his 2000 presidential effort.  He conceded that if he had it do over that he would have been more inclined to "wing it", meaning do it his own way,rather than listen to consultants, analyze the conclusions of focus groups, and view current polls.

What Gore was telling us was that he had become his own man.  How refreshing it was to see him emerge as a world statesman, received with supreme respect internationally, someone in the mold of Adlai Stevenson in the period of his two runs for the presidency and ultimate service as U.S. United Nations Ambassador under President Kennedy.

Gore revealed himself as a true statesman of the world contrasted with George Bush the Elder who, it will be recalled, scoffingly referred to him during the bitter 1992 presidential election as "Ozone Man."  While the elder Bush travels around the world on behalf of the Carlyle Group, whose actual purpose and function remains a secret, Gore has seized on the most vital issue confronting humankind - that of survival.

While craven corporate profiteers have their message delivered by the likes of Bush the Elder and drug-addicted talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Gore delivers the message synonymous with that of 58 Nobel Prize winning scientists that the entire planet could face extinction through the inherent dangers of global warming as well as concurrent corporate pollution of the world's atmosphere.

Now Gore's efforts have been honored by the securing of a Nobel Prize as well as an Academy Award for his film "An Inconvenient Truth."  He stands as a world statesman at a time when a neoconservative wrecking crew presided over by Bush and Dick Cheney has raised world tension levels and generates international conflict.

Gore stands in a comparable position to where Senator Robert Kennedy did at the time of his assassination in 1968.  Kennedy was so crushed following the assassination of his brother John that he would spend long periods of time in teary-eyed seclusion.

This seclusion time gave Kennedy the opportunity to map out the next course of his life.  He ultimately served as a visionary at a time when idealism was so sorely lacking, a cynical period that ultimately saw a great divider, Richard M. Nixon, elected president in 1968.

Kennedy's position was clear.  He wanted American troops out of Vietnam.  Kennedy sought a re-ordering of America's priorities.  He declared that the United States should abandon its role of "world policeman" and dedicate our resources to fighting poverty at home and, through the aid of global sources and resources, abroad as well.

We can only speculate what would have occurred had Kennedy lived and been elected.  The tragic Watergate period would never have occurred.  The Vietnam War would have been promptly ended.  The Nixon "Southern strategy" pitting regions of the country against another would never have occurred.

Thus far in the lead-up to the crucial 2008 presidential election we have heard so much consultant spinning and high blown homilies lacking real meaning among the leading candidates of both parties.  What is glaringly absent is vision, the kind of vision to propel America forward both at home and abroad.

Al Gore has demonstrated that he possesses such vision.  A major effort is being undertaken currently to propel him into the presidential race to fill the glaring leadership vacuum that currently exists.

The AlGore.com group is dedicated to furthering the above-stated goals by propelling Gore to run.  Not only has the group run an ad in the New York Times.  The Times has also done a large story on the Draft Gore effort.

Those interested in aiding the effort to propel Gore onto the presidential scene can visit AlGore.com and begin by signing the petition and then explore the other ways in which the objective of an Al Gore candidacy can be aided.