Letters to the Editor

• ruffissama

  [Read the article: Looking past Pennsylvania]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Yes, if I could build a time machine and go back to last summer and get Al Gore to run, it would be pretty damn tempting. This is going to sound like heresy from an Obama supporter, but I originally thought he should have taken his time, get elected governor or something, and then run when he had a bit more experience. He could still do that later on, if he doesn't win the nomination now - but he probably can't if he wins the nomination but loses this general election.

  Originally I was a bit dismissive of Gore running for president again, but then last summer my best friend from high school - who I hadn't seen in fourteen years - came to visit me in New York with his family. We were on the ferry back from the Statue of Liberty (because if you have daughters who are three and four you pretty much HAVE to take them to the Statue of Liberty if you're visiting New York) and we struck up a conversation about politics. At the time I liked both Obama and Hillary, but I was trying to make the case to him for a Clinton candidacy (believe it or not). Anyway, my friend looked at me very skeptically with his face screwed up like he had tasted something bitter and he said, "If you ask me, I don't like any of them." Then, he reflected for a moment and said, "If you want to know who I'd really like to run, it's Al Gore." And then it struck me like an epiphany - of course, he was right! Why didn't I see it before. It was so obvious! A man who had already proved he could win the popular vote and appeal to states we need to win in. And now that he had taken the stick out of his ass, people would be much more enthusiastic about voting for him than they had been in 2000. He was already vetted and nobody could challenge his experience. Also, he had been a voice in the wilderness when virtually no one was criticizing the Bush administration. He had been right about the Iraq War and a lot of the other issues progressives care about.

  I just don't know if giving Gore the nomination is a plausible scenario at this point. I do see that it might be desirable, I just don't see it as possible. Not in the climate that has built up over the past couple months. But maybe I'm wrong. I wouldn't be seriously disappointed if I was. I want to beat McCain just as badly as anyone else. Obama could come back in a couple years when he's more of an elder statesman (and after he's had a chance to put a couple year's distance between him and Reverend Wright). They could give Hillary the V.P. slot - because you really do need to throw the two present candidates each a bone (although I cringe to think of the Clinton White House just turned upside down), and the Democratic Establishment could promise Obama that they'd back him in a future White House run down the road. But I'm afraid that this is all just a day-dream, born out of panic at the mess that we're in now.

  I'm not worried about New York based on the Spitzer situation. I don't think he does any real damage to the Party, except maybe on the local level. On the presidential level, New Yorkers want to be done with the Republicans. McCain's poll numbers probably look a little higher than they should be, because some of the Obama people are probably saying they'll vote for him if Hillary's the candidate, and some of the Clinton people are saying the same if the reverse is true. But a lot of that will go away as soon he have a nominee and a McCain presidency is staring us in the face. New Jersey I might worry a little bit more about; it's less solidly blue than New York is, but somehow they've managed to pull through.

  I don't fully agree that the Latino vote is Hillary country. It is in the primaries, but I think Latinos would come around to Obama if it came down to him vs. McCain. I also disagree with your belief that coattails are not a factor. People often vote a straight party line, so if you have a Democratic presidential candidate in the state registering new voters and motivating them to vote, it's going to be a boon for the other Democratic candidates down the ticket. I know that some political observers have been wondering aloud which of the two Democratic frontrunners has longer coattails. Also, local politicians are going to want a 50 state campaign because it would bring campaign cash into the state to boost the economy.

  I'm not as dismissive of the Senior vote as you seem to think. Actually, I have a lot of admiration for the Greatest Generation for precisely the reason you mention. I think part of the problem with our politics today - something that drives the partisanship - is the rigidity that has grown around people's political ideology. It seems to me that the generation who fought World War II understand that at the end of the day we're all Americans - not Democrats and Republicans. That's why I think politicians of thirty years ago were sometimes able to cross party lines to do the right thing - remember, part of the reason Nixon resigned was pressure from fellow Republicans, which is something that just wouldn't happen today.

  Thanks for explaining the Kennedy - Obama comparison. I don't entirely agree, but at least it makes sense.

  Don't make me think about 2012. I'm not ready to write this election off just yet. I'm hoping that it's going to be re-election campaign for whichever Democrat gets the nomination this year!

  Permalink Friday, April 25, 2008 10:21 PM