Maybe the Democratic Party should give Gore another shot

Recently, I had my Flair pen in hand and was preparing to transpose my thoughts about the Clinton vs. Obama no holds barred fight to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president onto my yellow pad. I was going to offer my suggestion to Democratic bigwigs about how their party might have a dog’s chance of winning the election.

My suggestion? That in the event that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama can garner enough delegates to win hands-down at the convention, they should somehow nominate Al Gore. I have always thought that Gore would have a better shot at winning the presidency than any other Democrat. I said so in a column I wrote several months ago.

Joe Klein, in the April 7 issue of Time Magazine, stole my thunder. I’m glad I read Klein’s commentary before I wrote my own. It made me feel that I was not the only one who has an opinion similar to mine.

Klein theorizes that the Democratic Party elders might decide that neither Obama nor Clinton is a viable candidate for the presidency. Continuing, he says let’s assume that “such elders are strong and smart enough to act.”

He envisions the following scenario: That enough delegates would pass on the first ballot to deny the 2,025 votes necessary for either Obama or Clinton to win the nomination. Then, he asks, “What if they approached Gore and asked him to be the nominee, for the good of the party-and suggested that he take Obama as his running mate?”

Klein posed the scenario to several prominent Democrats, most of whom thought it would be unlikely. One, however, a major fundraiser told him, “Gore-Obama is a ticket a lot of people wanted in the first place,” and a Democratic congressman told him, “This could be a way to get out of a mess.”

Klein points out that Obama would have to agree with the deal, and that Gore would be willing to accept the nomination, which many believe to be unlikely. He concludes that for such an eventuality to occur, “The Democratic Party would have to be monumentally desperate come June. And yet, is this scenario any more preposterous than the one that gave John McCain the Republican nomination?”

Al Gore is acutely aware of the environmental problems facing our nation and the rest of the world, and I am confident that he knows that overpopulation is the root cause of most if not all of them.
In the unlikely event the Democrats should nominate Gore, he might even win the general election, but not if Obama was his running mate. Obama’s 20-year association with the foul-mouthed, anti-American preacher, whom he described as his mentor, revealed an unforgivable feature of Obama’s persona. Gore could find a running mate who would be far more acceptable to the general public than Obama.

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People who frequently “talk” on cell phones are, after ten years, fifty percent more likely to develop brain cancer than others, according to an article in a British medical journal.

Is it conceivable that talking on cell phones is as hazardous to one’s health as smoking cigarettes?

All things considered, it’s beginning to appear that it could be.

Bob Mount is emeritus professor of zoology and entomology at Auburn University and writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News.