A story in the New York Post suggests that Hillary Clinton is trying to improve her ratings with the left because of "the threat of a 2008 Al Gore presidential bid that could come at her from the left on Iraq."
The story notes that Gore will be "a star at the Democratic National Committee fund-raiser for big donors in Washington next Tuesday."
No doubt about it, the columnist makes some good points:
"He's keeping a very strong public profile. He was the first major Democrat to oppose the Iraq war. He's keeping in touch around the country and doing a lot of speeches. You don't do all that if your goal is to play celebrity golf," says a Democratic fund-raiser.
A top Dem strategist adds: "Americans love comebacks and Gore could come back as a real human being instead of a wooden guy. He could come back as . . somebody who went into the wilderness and found himself."
Iraq is the hot-button issue for the hard left MoveOn/Deaniac Dems who have major clout in presidential primaries — and Gore was loudly anti-war from the start while Clinton voted for the war (as did the now anti-war John Kerry).
It's one thing for Clinton to contemplate a 2008 anti-war foe like little-known Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.). It's quite another to face the MoveOn darling who won the popular vote against George W. Bush (and the election as many Dems see it).
Even Katrina could boost Gore — he got a standing ovation when he did an I-told-you-so and blamed global warming for hurricanes at Bill Clinton's Global Initiative last week.
As his speech at the Sierra Club's national convention indicates, Al Gore is not the same man who ran against Bush in 2000:
"When the corpses of American citizens are floating in toxic flood waters five days after a hurricane struck, it is time not only to respond directly to the victims of the catastrophe, but to hold ... the leaders of our nation accountable.
The warnings about global warming have been extremely clear for a long time. We are facing a global climate crisis, it is deepening. We are entering a period of consequences,"
Imagine having a president who believes in and comprehends science.
Hat tip to Political Wire
Election 2008 Al Gore Democrats Hillary Clinton Global Warming Katrina Rita
