Don't look for Al Gore to accept a cabinet position.

[LongTomH]

Independent journalist Mark Hertsgaard has an op-ed at the Guardian UK site dispelling any hopes we might have of seeing Al Gore in a President Obama cabinet: Outside Agitator

Hertsgaard comments that Gore himself has already said publicly, in a Time magazine interview, that he has no interest in a cabinet position - in any administration. Hertsgaard further states that this is due to Gore's frustration with his progress in getting the Clinton White House to take real action on the issue of Global Warming.

In our interview, Gore acknowledged these failings. But he argued that the blame lay not with him or Clinton, who, he said, "was much more responsive than not". Rather, Gore said, "the resistance was tremendous" from the status quo. The two richest, most powerful industries in American history, oil and autos, were fiercely opposed to cutting emissions, as were coal and electricity companies. Kyoto was "blocked by pressure from the polluters," Gore told me, adding that Exxon-Mobil and other big companies "purposely confused people" with tens of millions of dollars of advertising and lobbying that misrepresented and disparaged the science behind global warming. This disinformation campaign encouraged "massive denial in the country as a whole" and "conditioned the battlefield" in Washington so that Congress ended up blocking reform.

The lesson Gore seems to have drawn from his defeats is that being president is not enough to create real change, especially if powerful interests are against you. The only way to defeat those interests is to "re-condition the battlefield", as Gore put it - to build such a pervasive wave of public pressure that no matter which politicians get elected, they will feel compelled to take action, even if it means disappointing Exxon-Mobil and friends. That's what happened when public opinion, activism and protests led President Lyndon Johnson to sign a 1964 Civil Rights Act that was very similar to the bill he and most members of Congress had voted against in 1958. It's what happened when President Richard Nixon finally removed US forces from Vietnam, even though privately Nixon wanted to persevere and win.

Gore's years in the Clinton White House appear to have taught him a vital lesson about modern democracy, a lesson that is omitted from most textbooks and news coverage: being president, like being right, is not enough. The only way to beat organised money is with organised people, lots of them. Gore is now helping to build that grassroots pressure, even though it means giving up on the presidential dream he has harboured since childhood. As much as any specific policy advice he might give president Obama, it is this energised public opinion that will do the most to help save the US and the world from the climate change catastrophe that threatens to engulf us.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. ~

.

[gateley]

2. I'm glad.

Anyone who is part of an administration would have constraints placed on them. He would be losing much of his freedom, and power.

Excellent article. Thank you - Recommend!

[robinlynne]

4. I understand what youa re syaing gately, but I am far from glad. I dream of seeing gore

as the head of the epa or the forests/national parks at the least, or energy, and bobby kennedy as the head of justice. It is my only hope for the candidates we have left. I dont see either of them making significant changes unless they put in a cabinet far to the left of themselves.

[jwirr]

5. I think that we may see him as an adviser to many parts of our newly

elected government. I can see all these cabinet positions seeking his advice on many issues. I also think we will have congresspersons who will seek assistance in writing proposed legislation. He could be invaluable in that capacity. Along with Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton he will become a well respected elder statesman not only in the US but throughout the world.

[Prophet 451]

8. I disagree

I can see Gore, without the need to compromise of politics, bugging the hell out of the new Congress to do the right thing. In that regard, he could be more useful out of office than in.

[Cha]

3. And I believe the press distorted what Obama

actually said as usual. When Obama was asked about Al Gore he said something like he would offer Al Gore a job but no way was "cabinet" metioned until the m$$$m started squawking about it.

[elocs]

6. Hell, you've got people here who can't get over that Gore did not run for president

or that he will not somehow become our candidate. Why would Gore want to be chained to a cabinet position when he is free now to do and say what he wants, when he wants? This does not mean, however, that he would not have a good working relationship with president Obama. Gore has found his life's calling and for him it is better than being president. He is a lucky man and I think he knows it.

[DCKit]

7. Exxon, Chevron, BP, GE and Big Coal are running a host of ads...

portraying themselves as green companies on the front lines against global warming. I saw a couple of new ones just today, Chevron's being the most offensive - though nothing compares to the "Clean Coal" ads. If coal weren't the major source of mercury polluting our rivers, lakes and streams, there wouldn't be advisories on eating freshwater fish from nearly every body water in the country.

That they believe they might have to defend themselves preemptively against whatever regulation may be coming their way is a good sign. That they believe a good PR campaign might be enough to distract the Amurikan public from the realities of pollution and global warming, not so much.