{"id":13876,"date":"2007-12-10T16:10:57","date_gmt":"2007-12-10T21:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/13876.html"},"modified":"2007-12-10T16:10:57","modified_gmt":"2007-12-10T21:10:57","slug":"gore-accepts-his-nobel-prize-casually-reignites-campaign-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/gore-accepts-his-nobel-prize-casually-reignites-campaign-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"Gore accepts his Nobel prize, casually reignites campaign interest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Al Gore was in Oslo, Norway, this morning to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. If you have a minute, his acceptance speech<\/a> is well worth reading.<\/p>\n

For example, I didn’t realize it, but this week is the seventh anniversary of Gore’s concessions speech after the 2000 race.<\/p>\n

Seven years ago tomorrow, I read my own political obituary in a judgment that seemed to me harsh and mistaken \u2013 if not premature. But that unwelcome verdict also brought a precious if painful gift: an opportunity to search for fresh new ways to serve my purpose.<\/p>\n

Unexpectedly, that quest has brought me here. Even though I fear my words cannot match this moment, I pray what I am feeling in my heart will be communicated clearly enough that those who hear me will say, “We must act.”<\/p>\n

The distinguished scientists with whom it is the greatest honor of my life to share this award have laid before us a choice between two different futures \u2013 a choice that to my ears echoes the words of an ancient prophet: “Life or death, blessings or curses. Therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”<\/p>\n

We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency \u2013 a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst \u2013 though not all \u2013 of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly.<\/p>\n

However, despite a growing number of honorable exceptions, too many of the world’s leaders are still best described in the words Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitler’s threat: “They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He didn’t mention any names, but we could probably could come up with a few suspects.<\/p>\n

What’s likely to get nearly as much attention as today’s award, though, was Gore commenting briefly after the ceremony on future political plans.
\n
\nCNN, predictably, is playing up this story<\/a> quite a bit.<\/p>\n

Former Vice President Al Gore denied again that there were any campaign plans in his immediate future, but told CNN Monday that he hadn’t “ruled out getting back into the political process at some point” — and that if he did return to political life, it would be to take another shot at the White House.<\/p>\n

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, speaking from the Oslo site of Monday’s awards ceremony, told CNN’s Jonathan Mann that he didn’t expect to ever get back in the political process, but that “if I did get back, it would be as a candidate for president.”<\/p>\n

He did not endorse any of the current Democratic candidates for president, and did not respond directly to a question about his view of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s environmental policy proposals.<\/p>\n

He added that “the political system as it now operates makes it very difficult” for any of the current crop of candidates to make climate change issues a top priority.<\/p>\n

Gore’s political future has been the object of intense speculation since he received an Academy Award earlier this year for his documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Another White House bid would be the third for the former vice president, who also ran in 1988 and 2000.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Actually, it’s been the “object of intense speculation” because news outlets like CNN find it more interesting to talk about Gore’s non-existent campaign than his efforts to combat global warming.<\/p>\n

Regardless, kudos to the former Vice President for a well-deserved honor.<\/p>\n

Previous coverage of Gore and the Nobel Peace Prize here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Al Gore was in Oslo, Norway, this morning to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. If you have a minute, his acceptance speech is well worth reading. For example, I didn’t realize it, but this week is the seventh anniversary of Gore’s concessions speech after the 2000 race. Seven years ago tomorrow, I read my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}