Thursday, May 25, 2006

Could Al Gore Be the Next Nixon?

Check out this article from Anderson Cooper's CNN.com blog about Al Gore. He theorizes that Gore may be uniquely positioned for a return to politics, like Richards Nixon once was. For many liberals/progressives, I think Gore as a candidate could be an appealing idea, and appealing as an alternative to Hillary Clinton. I'm very eager for a woman to lead the nation. So many other countries have - shouldn't US, champion of human rights, be setting the tone by example? But I'm not sure Clinton is the right woman, or, more problematically, that she could be elected even if she was the right women, so venomous is the hatred of her by so many. Could Al Gore win the second time around? Maybe...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm all for it .... of course, I was a diehard Bradley girl in 2000 and NOT a Gore girl though I did vote for him since Bradley bowed out but that's besides the point.
Or maybe it's exactly the point.
Hrmph.
At the time I think I was on Gore burnout and saw Bradley as a decent and intelligent alternative (who threw pretty good get-together for even the lowliest campaign supporters).
Over the past handful of years, though, I've gotten to take a look at Gore. Not Gore the VP to Bubba ... not Gore the husband to that crazy PMRC chick ... but Gore the man who actually knows what he's talking about over quite a lot of things (even if he can't do the Macarena).
Hillary? Yeah, she's probably the most likely female we have right now and I like her enough ... even got to know some of her secret service guys ... but if it came down to her and Al I really think Al's finally got me in his corner.

Anonymous said...

Hillary stands the best chance of winning the Presidential election. She can't be challenged by the right quite as easily as Al Gore. Her moves towards the center were very wise. The Republicans have nothing to fling at her that they haven't already flung and she has come out stronger from all their assaults so far. After forty three men it's about time but more to the point she is the best candidate.

Darius said...

I'm under the impression Gore has emphatically expressed no interest in running again.

The fear and loathing of the Christian right and all male chauvinists is so great H. Clinton has no chance. Personally, without having seriously looked at her positions in any detail, my first impression is that I'd vote for her.

Unknown said...

I don't know, I think Gore sees him as the VP of Bubba Clinton, and connect the two. There is such distrust of both. I am with you, too much venom spewed Hillary's way. But you know even in our supposebly liberated country, I think any woman will receive venomous treatment if they were to run for President. In fact the Extreme right, fundamentalist right, and Christian right will do anything to make anyone from the Democrat side look bad.

Tom Flowers said...

New Nixon memos were released last week by The National Archives. They indicate that Nixon was xenophobic; heavily prejudiced; and often drunk. I certainly hope Al Gore is not like Nixon!

Anonymous said...

Thatcher was a woman and not good news for the UK. Not because she was a woman, but because she had the wrong values IMHO

Beth Quick said...

I should clarify that both the article I refer to and my own thoughts are *not* that Gore is like, in behavior, values, etc., Nixon, but that he is set in a unique place in time to be poised for election, as Nixon was poised in time/place to be elected after seemingly being out of the running earlier. That's all!

Greg Hazelrig said...

I don't think that the Democrats can win unless they pick someone that hasn't run before or who's name isn't Clinton (Unless of course Bill could run again).

I don't believe Hilliary can win. There is the female issue that will keep some voters away, but mostly, I just don't think Hilliary is very much liked by Americans other than staunch Democrats. I believe that there will be no moderate vote for her.

I don't believe that Gore could win either. You have to remember that he didn't even win his own state when he ran last time.

I think that the Democrats have a real chance this time around. But that they can mess it up awfully easily by sending a past loser like Gore or Dean. (Edwards...maybe???) They will also mess it up with Hilliary.

They don't have the Carl Rove machine producing hatred for homosexual America against them this time, and they can work off the past failures of this regime and they can make promises that will allude to gas prices. But otherwise, they can just as easily lose again if they don't do something...anything...right this time around.

Just my opinion. And by the way, I'm a moderate who has voted Republican and Democrat at times. So no bias here. ha ha.

John said...

I'd like to see a woman in charge, too. Preferably Condi Rice.

I doubt that Gore will get another shot. The Democratic Party tends to be unforgiving of past Presidential candidates who lose.

Hillary, I think, has the best shot. She has the Bushian quality of driving her opponents insane. Normal people on the Right start whipping out crazy conspiracy theories when HRC gets popular. That tendency would hurt the GOP in 2008, much as it hurt the Democracts in 2004.

I don't think that a HRC Presidency would be disasterous. She's not totally politically done deaf. She's generally aware of what direction the country is moving in. And although polling-based public policymaking is usually foolish and cowardly, I trust the Average Joe to run the country more than any randomly selected Washington pol.

John said...

Oh, and also count on the GOP to do something unbelievably stupid like make Jeb Bush the candidate.

Anonymous said...

Condaleeza Rice would do a great job!

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