The Oslo Primary
The stunning news that Al Gore has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize should make Americans proud – even as it upsets his political detractors and worries Democrats running for the White House. After all, it’s a prestigious recognition that the United States helped to lead the international debate on climate change, something that was easily forgotten in the acrimony over the US stance on the Kyoto Protocol. It’s also a kind of personal vindication – the kind Americans love – where the guy who’s had a tough break picks himself up and comes out a winner. Whatever F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about no “second acts” in American lives, we relish those exceptions, whether it’s Richard Nixon in ’68, or Albert Gore forty years later. Who remembers “Sore Loserman” now? An Oscar, an Emmy, and now a Nobel!
It perhaps should be no surprise that the guy who was in charge, during the Clinton years, of “government re-invention,” turned out to be pretty good at re-inventing himself. He’s more at home in Silicon Valley than any of the Republican candidates, the putative backers of entrepreneurs. Having been out of politics since 2001, Gore has no votes on Iraq that he must defend. So, with his name recognition, and benefiting from Republican miscues, Gore would be a remarkably strong candidate, blessed even by the Swedish academy. Even our mammoth energy conglomerates would probably like him, since they are all deeply into re-inventing themselves as purveyors of alternative energy products (and the government subsidies they earn).
So why won’t Gore run? Almost certainly, the answer lies once again in the frosty, symbiotic relationship between Gore and the Clintons, dredged up once again in a new book by Sally Bedell. If one believes only half of what has been written over the past ten years or so, Gore took umbrage at Hillary’s initiatives as First Lady, Bill resented Al’s go-it-alone attitude during the 2000 campaign, and Al chaffed at the Clintons’ fund-raising successes on behalf of Hillary’s first Senate race. Hillary’s current, commanding lead among Democratic candidates can only be challenged by one individual – and no one knows this better than Al, Hillary and Bill.
Less than three months remain before the first party caucuses, which gives Nobel Laureate Gore only a couple of weeks in which to reconsider – if he chooses – his demurrals. Those who want – or fear – a Gore candidacy are well aware of this and are engaged in last ditch efforts. An election, like a hanging, concentrates the mind. But if there were any doubt that foreign publics take an interest and try to influence the outcome of our quadrennial confusion, the voters in Oslo put that to rest. They held their own caucus, cast their secret vote, and announced the results of the first primary of the 2008 election. The only question is, will the winner be a candidate?