Keeping his powder dry until well after all the dust had settled. Now, THAT's the hypercautious, vacillating candidate I remember from 2000.

Well, welcome aboard regardless.

Was he considering endorsing McCain? Glad to see Gore still has the guts to make the hard decisions when they matter...

Considering the wailing and gnashing of teeth that followed Ted Kennedy's endorsement, it is a good thing that most of the senior Democratic leadership waited for the primaries to be finished before endorsing.

Plus it keeps Obama in the news cycle. Space out the remaining big endorsements and Obama keeps the headlines for weeks if not months.

Finally, there is always the possibility that Gore didn't have a candidate he wanted to endorse over other Democratic candidates.

But wouldn't his endorsement mean more if it came in November?

Plus it keeps Obama in the news cycle. Space out the remaining big endorsements and Obama keeps the headlines for weeks if not months.

Excellent point. The party strategy at this point, then, might be said to be one of running a summer-long convention — just keep having Democratic notables stepping up and delivering rallying speeches until Denver.

There are two interesting things about that idea: one is that there are so many party notables with that kind of name recognition to begin with. Another is that no such comparable strategy seems possible with the Republicans — who's going to give a ringing endorsement of McCain?

I heard some of Gore's Obama endorsement.

Not bad.

Wish he'd been that good in 2000.

Couldn't win Tennessee?

But Jeb and Katherine and Supremes took Florida and Cheney's puppet took the oaf of office and 100 years of nightmare squeezed into 7 and a half.

Al noted some danger to the Constitution emmanating from the Bush Administration.

Good!

I wish that was a plank of the campaign.

I don't think the House and Senate have any idea of the support they'd receive by fighting to save the Constitutional protections threatened by the FISA fascism.

Even if there wasn't tremendous encouragement, a corruption of vital laws should not be allowed.

But there is opposition. They just don't know it because they think narrowly and absorb the warp of the regular Press and Media.

They can't hear us or feel us.

I don't seek to crush the telecoms, or ruin them. Let them deal it out, legally in admissions and mercy pleas.

I'm not anti impeachment, which would have been better last year.

And i realize it won't happen.

But i would suggest that it is legislatively worth the effort to arrest any further damage. I really despise the sham charade complicity looming from any skewed truce precedenting Executive branch whims attaining omnipotent license to decide and decree what is proper and immune from congressional and judicial oversight or control.

Why would you give a free legal pass and more juice to the worst White House ever?

I hope the whispers are running back down the flagpole in recognition that Americans know exactly what is at risk here.

Why would they assume we are as stupid and cowardly corrupt as they are?

Obama and some friends should shout this subterfuge away.

Change is not about marching backwards to more tyranny.

November's too far away. What good is it to landslide then but lose the Democracy now?

First of all may I quote Drewonimo from the other thread. He really nails it in this exceptional post:

The right thing at the right time in the right place

No, it's not news that Gore is endorsing the Democratic candidate. But here's why the WAY this is happening IS news:

He's doing it in Detroit, the least hospitable place for those fighting for aggressive action on the climate crisis. You can bet this is a sign that Gore is leveraging this issue with Obama for all it's worth -- and he should!

He is not endorsing "too late" as many will undoubtedly say. Gore wants a Democrat in the White House and, from the perspective of environmental concerns, getting leverage means backing the winner and doing what he can for them. If he had endorsed Obama in the primaries, you can bet that ALL the coverage would focus on bogus personality issues -- the supposed Gore-Clinton feud, etc. That's not what Al Gore gives a shit about. If you read his last book you'll know that he's most concerned with putting the issues that matter at the front of public discourse. This is the way to do it.

Al Gore is also using his enormous email list to raise money for a candidate for the first time. That's bigger than anything else that will come of this announcement. If he can deliver the environmental vote AND the big bucks, he will do Obama and the nation a world of service.

Al Gore is a true national hero in my book. He has rarely wasted his energy on the petty poliics of ego and such and has truly put his back into fighting for what matters. All the snarky comments over the years haven't diminished what has and always will be true; Al Gore is an amazing human being we are lucky to have as an American and a Democrat.

Drewonimo is 100% right and 0% wrong. Gore has transformed from a politician to a true Statesman over the past 4 years. This is why he kept his word when he stated he wouldn't endorse until the nomination was over. But it is an absolute perfect fit. From his 2000 "People vs. the Powerful" nomination speech, which America wasn't quite ready for (despite the fact that he actually won); to Howard Dean's 2004 run (loved it when Gore put the final nail in the coffin of Joementum that year by endorsing Dean); to his most recent book "The Assault On Reason", this is an absolutely perfect match and culmination of the things Gore has fought for.

The proudest moment in my political life was when I voted for Al Gore in 2000. I was doubtful I'd have another chance for something like this, but now we can dare to hope again.

Gore's speech was a real barn-burner. Warm, passionate, funny and inspiring. Al Gore's speechmaking abilities have increased exponentially in the past eight years.

This was a total win, I don't see how anyone could spin it otherwise.