Al Gore - Presidential, Patriotic and Prophetic

Watching the horrifying new documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” based on a slide show Al Gore has given hundreds of times around the globe, I had two distinct impressions.

One, that Global Warming is not only a very real and scientifically proven phenomenon, but also a catastrophic freight train heading directly at us. Any child who can multiply and divide has to come to the same conclusion. And the conclusion is neither hyperbole nor overstatement.

Indeed, despite sniping from media morons (like John Tierney of the New York Times) who focus on the fact that Al Gore doesn't have the same screen impact as, say, Tom Cruise, or that the film has too much information and not enough entertainment (ooops--they forgot it was a documentary, not a thriller), the basic, scientifically undisputed facts are astonishing.

Global temperature has proven to be a function of, and determined by, carbon levels in the atmosphere. And the fact that carbon levels are currently multiples higher than they have been in many hundreds of thousands of years is an indication that global temperatures are going to continue rising beyond historical precedent--with absolutely devastating consequences.

After watching the film and reading the evidence, anyone who doesn’t agree that we are facing a global emergency of Biblical proportions is just plain stupid, ignorant, deluded or in denial. If anyone disagrees, I challenge them to point to ANY robust, peer-reviewed study that contradicts the research presented in the film. Otherwise, we all need to act quickly if we want to save the planet as we know it and prevent a flood of human misery and suffering.

The film, which details Vice President Gore’s background and adolescence, also provoked the sad realization that our nation would have been so much better off with President Al Gore.

While President Bush is incapable of speaking proper English, stumbles over words, and doesn’t seem to understand the simplest concepts, Al Gore is thoughtful, articulate, passionate and engaging. While Bush can barely parrot the talking points of his handlers, Gore is a solid extemporaneous speaker. I’m not sure if Bush is stupid, but he is surely, at best, a mediocre intellect. And his team has proven themselves incompetent, dishonest, corrupt, hypocritical, greedy, arrogant and destructive.

Sure, Bush has a great smile and can tell (his handler’s prefabricated) jokes with great effect, but it’s impossible to imagine him getting passionate or involved with any cause beyond his tiny set of oil friends or his ranch. He has neither the range nor the depth. Gore clearly has both. He would make an excellent foreign policy negotiator, perhaps the best steward of the environment in a generation, and hold accountable the same corporate interests that have the hapless Bush team in their pockets.

Looking back, it’s heartbreaking to imagine the wars, scandals, constitutional crises and policy failures that would have been avoided if the Supreme Court hadn’t given the victory to Bush.

Some would suggest that we shouldn’t look back, we should look ahead. But if we look ahead with the same idiots that got us into our current messes, we won’t fix anything. We have to look back and accept that the gross negligence, mismanagement and ineptitude of our current leaders disqualify them from being a part of any solution. Duh.

Al Gore would have surely avoided many of our current problems. Those who claim there is no real difference between the two political parties should have their heads examined. In terms of outcomes, our lives and our nation would be in a very different place, heading in a very different direction, if Al Gore were President. But thanks to this film, Gore may have a greater, more positive impact on our lives and future than we will ever get from eight years of the Bush disaster.