Al Gore
October 06, 2005
Al Gore was vice president of the United States. The following is the
prepared text of the speech he delivered to the The Media Center's We
Media conference on October 5, 2005 in New York City.
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I came here today because I believe that American democracy is in grave danger. It is no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse. I know that I am not the only one who feels that something has gone basically and badly wrong in the way America's fabled "marketplace of ideas" now functions.
How many of you, I wonder, have heard a friend or a family member in the last few years remark that it's almost as if America has entered "an alternate universe"?
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"Don't talk about it; be about it" is what R & B star R. Kelly's disgruntled lover advised him to do if he wanted to remain in her good graces in his 1998 song "Don't Put Me Out." The infamous Kelly may be an unlikely tutor for American politicians, but some of our elected officials should heed the same advice when it comes to leadership.
How many of you, I wonder, have heard a friend or
a family member in the last few years remark that
it's almost as if America has entered "an alternate
universe"?
President Bush fell down on the job of leading us so
badly in the days after Hurricane Katrina and the
flooding of New Orleans that even the reporters at
conservative-leaning FOX News could not restrain
themselves from criticizing the administration for
allowing literally helpless Americans to die from
starvation, dehydration, drowning, and heat stroke
while waiting days for rescue. The American
people, faced with the irrefutable televised evidence
of babies screaming for milk and the elderly left to
die seems to be losing faith in the president they
elected because they believed he would "be about"
protecting them. Thus, the twin tragedies of
Katrina and Iraq have pushed Bush's poll numbers
down to Watergate-era lows.
Bush's disastrous response was so horrific that -- to
use another example from the music world -- hip-
hop phenom Kanye West, after watching the
spectacle at the Superdome, declared on national
television that "George Bush doesn't care about
black people"
One man who did care enough to "be about" leading
people to safety was former Vice President Al Gore.
Together with Greg Simon, head of the nonprofit
FasterCures, Gore defied government bureaucracy,
military regulations, and perhaps political
interference to charter and accompany two
airplane flights into New Orleans to rescue patients
and bring them to safety at Tennessee hospitals.
While other politicians appeared to be debating
whether or not to leave their Labor Day vacations
early or to be dithering with their consultants over
the political ramifications of various actions and
statements, Gore did what many of us watching
television from our homes only wished we could do:
He flew into New Orleans and rescued people.
Desperate for effective leadership, factions of the
Democratic Party have been wrestling with one
another about whether we should go left or right in
order to win elections. Gore's actions have
punctured a hole in this debate by simply going
forward. The tragedy of Katrina was not political so
much as humanitarian. American citizens were
dying, homeless, and injured, and those who truly
cared about them could not sit by and watch from
the height of their private planes or the comfort of
their ranches and beach houses. Gore not only cares
about America; he proved he cares about
Americans enough to land a plane in the midst of
the misery and "be about" rescuing more than 200
desperate people.
Gore has been reluctant to discuss what he did on
those two flights, most likely for fear of politicizing
his actions. But maybe his actions should be
politicized; Americans are hungry for any
conviction in today's politics. That hunger was
evident as people flocked to the promise of
presidential candidates Howard Dean, John
McCain, and Wesley Clark in past election years.
Voters believed these men offered us something
different, something genuine. They were convinced
for a time that these guys wouldn't just "talk
about" leading us, they would "be about" leading
us.
It may be time for America to see more of Al Gore.
When he was last on the national stage, he looked
hesitant and unsure of himself. The nation found it
hard to feel comfortable with a man who did not
seem to feel comfortable with himself. That may
have changed. Gore has been charging forward,
voicing his consistent criticism about how and why
we went to war in Iraq (uncompromised by having
voted for the war resolution) and continuing to talk
about the threats posed by climate change, which
have only become more evident this hurricane
season, and by acting rapidly and effectively to
rescue sick and injured Americans on his own dime
when they needed it most. Whether Al Gore wants
to be President or not, his example should serve as a
marker for anyone else who does: "Don't talk about"
leading us anymore, just "be about it." [more]
Or maybe it's because we can relate to his
imperfections...his sometimes-goofy, self-deprecating
humor, his Saturday Night Live-spoofed staidness, his
endearing affection for Tipper. We definitely admire
his tenacity in taking a tough punch and yet moving
on.
And maybe we're righteously angry that he got
cheated in the 2000 election. And even more, that the
United States got horribly cheated.
Reported the New York Post yesterday. "As Sen.
Hillary Clinton ratchets up her attacks on President
Bush, some Democrats think they smell an
explanation: the threat of a 2008 Al Gore presidential
bid that could come at her from the left on Iraq. The
former vice president is suddenly re-emerging as a
vocal and visible Bush-basher -- he's slated to star at a
Democratic National Committee fund-raiser for big
donors in Washington next Tuesday."
In a DailyKos straw poll this week for the Democratic
candidate in 2008, the results were: "Given these
2008 choices, I would vote for:
Edwards 8%, Clark 24%, Gore 48%, Clinton 4%,
Feingold 8%, Other 2%, No Freakin' Clue 2% (Votes:
7432) "
On September 9, Al Gore was accorded a long-lasting
standing ovation when he delivered an extraordinary
speech to the annual Sierra Club convention in San
Francisco. (Here is a link to his speech text.)
In it, he beseeched, "It is time now for us to recover our
moral health in America and stand again to rise for
freedom, demand accountability for poor decisions,
missed judgments, lack of planning, lack of
preparation, and willful denial of the obvious truth
about serious and imminent threats that are facing
the American people....
I would urge you to make global warming your
priority. I would urge you to focus on a unified theme.
I would urge you to work with other groups in ways
that have not been done in the past, even though
there have been Herculean efforts on your part and
the part of others. I would urge you to make this a
moral moment. To make this a moral cause. "
An oft quoted part of this landmark speech by Mr.
Gore is, "The Bible in which I believe, in my own faith
tradition, says, 'Where there is no vision, the people
perish.' "
And in the early days after Hurricane Katrina
devastated New Orleans, while George Bush remained
on vacation, Donald Rumsfeld attended a San Diego
Padres baseball game, Dick Cheney relaxed at his
Wyoming estate, Karl Rove hobnobbed with the rich
in Aspen, and Condoleezza Rice shopped for shoes and
enjoyed a Broadway show.....
Al Gore quietly funded and facilitated a harrowing
mercy mission in New Orleans to airlift 270 medical
patients and evacuees from the New Orleans airport
to hospitals and shelters in Knoxville and
Chattanooga, Tennessee. Said Dr. Anderson Spickard,
Gore's personal physician who accompanied him on
the flights, said: 'Gore told me he wanted to do this
because like all of us he wanted to seize the
opportunity to do what one guy can do, given the
assets that he has.' ...." (Read here about this mission
of compassion.)
Yes, there's something about Al Gore that we can't get
out of our minds and hearts....his wisdom and
humanity, his visionary leadership and especially,
his personal grace.
Al Gore in 2008? It has a nice ring to it. [more]
Visiting New York City for the first time since leaving her campsite outside President Bush's vacation ranch in Crawford, Texas, Ms. Sheehan told a packed audience in a Brooklyn church that Mrs. Clinton "knows the war is a lie" but because of her political ambitions refuses to voice any opposition.
Mrs. Clinton is "waiting for the best political moment to say" she opposes the war, Ms. Sheehan said during a 15-minute speech. "You say it or you're losing your job," she said, provoking a roar of approval from the audience. Mrs. Clinton, believed to be a possible presidential contender in 2008, has said she supports the war in Iraq and has pushed for a greater troop presence in the country.
In an interview after her speech, Ms. Sheehan said she has requested a meeting with Mrs. Clinton but has not gotten a reply. Mrs. Clinton's office was not immediately available for comment last night.
Ms. Sheehan, who has demanded a second face-to-face meeting with Mr. Bush to discuss the war, suggested that there was little the president could say at this point to appease her. She called his administration "reckless" and "insane" and said "maniacs" are running America.
She also seemed to broaden her stance against America's military presence in Iraq to an opposition to war in general, saying, "We want to make sure it never happens again." She said she was motivated not just by the grief caused by the death of her 24-year-old son Casey, a soldier killed in Baghdad in April 2004, but by an effort to save the world's children.
"The children of the world are not safe," she said. "We have to do it for them."
She also criticized the press for picking on her and said it has corrupt motives in its coverage. "If you look at who owns most of the mainstream media, they all profit off of this war. We have to stop making war profitable."
Ms. Sheehan spoke to about 300 people inside the sanctuary of the Civil War-era Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, located on the corner of South Oxford Street and Lafayette Avenue in the heart of the Fort Greene neighborhood. The audience was a mixture of Brooklyn residents, anti-war protesters, and a handful of politicians, including City Council members David Yassky and Letitia James. Also in the audience was television personality Phil Donahue, who said he was "very, very impressed with this woman's courage." In an interview outside the sanctuary, he described Ms. Sheehan as a "lightening rod of an important effort to stop this immoral war." The reverend of the church, David Dyson, called Ms. Sheehan "one of the bravest women in the United States of America."
Arriving more than an hour late apparently because of traffic and bad directions, Ms. Sheehan stepped out of a white recreation vehicle and entered the church. An ecstatic audience had risen to its feet. As the Lafayette Inspirational Ensemble chanted "Ain't gonna study war no more," Ms. Sheehan sat down, crossed her legs, and slowly nodded to the choral music.
Ms. Sheehan's month-long vigil outside Mr. Bush's vacation ranch propelled her to the national stage as the symbolic face of an anti-war movement that had lost some of its force. Thousands of opponents of the war joined her at her "Camp Casey" in Texas, as did a large contingent of pro-war demonstrators who staged rallies in support of the Bush administration. As a grieving mother seeking answers, Ms. Sheehan has won sympathy from Americans who have reservations about Mr. Bush's handling of the war, but she has also alienated others, including families of other American soldiers killed in Iraq, who say a partisan political agenda has corrupted her message.
While her protest began as a simple demand to meet with the president, her criticisms of Mr. Bush have expanded beyond foreign policy. After touring parts of Louisiana last week, Ms. Sheehan wrote a letter posted on filmmaker Michael Moore's Web site in which she accused the federal government of evacuating people unnecessarily in the days after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. "George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power," she wrote.
Ms. Sheehan is to speak today at St. John the Divine in Manhattan, with much larger crowds expected to attend. Organized in part by the anti-war group United for Peace and Justice, her stop in New York is part of what is billed as "The Bring Them Home Now Tour," which concludes on September 21 when three buses traveling along regional routes converge in Washington, D.C., three days before an anti-war rally on the National Mall. Ms. Sheehan has said she plans to set up a vigil near the White House that will resemble the Crawford campsite
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