Oh, how the world would be different today …

Oh, Larry, how I SO agree with you…

One man won the election and became a statesman, the other became president and drove the country into a ditch.
Has the electorate learned anything?
I doubt it.

It’s not so clear to me that Gore would have been a better President and it seems likely he would be a less valuable environmentalist. 2000 May have come out right for the contestants if not the rest of us.

I find Gore’s story very inspirational. Rather than sink into the sunset, he found a defining issue and mission. Similar to Jimmy Carter, he may contribute much more as a citizen than as an elected official, although his prior office gives him the bully pulpit and credibility.
I do feel certain we would not be in Iraq right now if Gore were President, and thus the unnecessary deaths amd trillion dollar debt which we could not afford to spend in the first place would have been avoided. I also do not think we would be quibbling about the definitions of torture and haebus corpus. Gore likely would have also focused on a national energy conservation program to decrease our dependence or Arab Oil after 9/11 or be involved in an international one as the U.S. surely would have signed the Kyoto agreement. His government also would not be promoting disinformation on the “theory” of climate change due to global warming. It would not be censoring scientific reports from government agencies. I also think his administration which have been politicized and inclusive. I cannot say for sure but I would like to think that there would have been less cronyism and more competence in the administration, and certainly a higher respect for the law with respect to governance (as in the outing of Valerie Plame, Libby conviction and pardon, firings of U.S. attorneys by Gonzalez, White house e-mails) and to privacy of inidividual citizens (illegal wiretapping and surveillance. What would George Bush be doing now if he lost the 2000 election? Probably cutting shrub at his Texas ranch (which is what he said he would do if he lost the election) and sitting on the boards of some oil and oil-related companies as well as serving as a glad-handling figurehead for the Carlisle Group, much as he did when he was part of the ownership team of the Texas Rangers. I am not sure George Bush would have had any significant vision or mission that would have energized him to contribute to our larger society. I may be wrong, but I do not think his life prior to his election as governor was marked by any signficant volunteerism or civic activity on behalf of ANY cause other than helping his father get re-elected. I also don’t see him being a political commentator like Reagan did after he lost his nomination bid. I guess he would have been a marginal influence-which is good. As I look ahead, I do think that he will have marginal influence as an ex-president. His inabillity to articulate a clear vision of the future as President suggests he will not be able to do the same as a private citizen. His credibility (hence moral authority) also is questioned by the majority of Americans. I think he will take a quiet retirement, publish a ghost-written memoir that puts some positive spin on his actions, and be involved in building his library to again whitewash events in history. As well as sit on the boards of some oil and oil-related (plus some defennse) companies. I don’t see him turning down easy lucre as Carter has done.
I also think the Christian right would still be a powerful force. They would be galvanized against Gore and the Democrats because he was not their type of Christian, and he did not oppose abortion. They would oppose him because he would not support a ban against gay marriage. I’m not sure if Gore would support gay marriage although he would not politicize the issue by insisting on a constitutional amendment on the definition of marriage. These are the wedge issues successfully used by Rove/Bush to win the election in 2000. Fear from terrorism and the consequences of “cutting and running” were used in 2004. I feel that the Bush adminsitration avoided dealing with real problems when they occured (like Katrina) and facing the reality of difficult proglems around us (global warming, decline global competitiveness, poor eduction, lack of health care for 1/3 Americans, safeguarding our ports and?borders) and tried to play up these wedge issues even after election. President Bush had unprecendented opportunity to do good, to practice “compassionate conservatism”, and to lead us to be the “kinder and gentler”nation his father envisioned. In his arrogance, he said he earned the “political capital” to do whatever he wanted. Sadly, whatever political capital and trust given to him by the American people, has been wastefully squandered by him.
I am a Christian and while I do not support abortion or gay marriage, I believe there are many other pressing issues that also need to be addressed. Moreover, when it comes to elected representatives- competence matters. Addtionally, I will support candidates who have high moral standards while having the vision and objectivity to also deal with substantive issues, and not be afraid of facing the truth and engaging our nation in the truth. I also would vote for someone who was truly committed to Bush’s original pledge “to bring honor and integrity” back to the White House.

Paul of Potomac – Amen!

A wonderful post, Paul. Thank you.

An extremely well-stated “20-20 hindsight” of the politics — and the ethics — if a justice could have been persuaded in Bush v. Gore.

Paul,
There are a lot of reasons other than the Democrats promoting and encouraging lascivious licentiousness (abortion and gay marriage) to stand in opposition to them and what they want to do to America. Gore would have had us burdened into oblivion (anti-family) dancing to the tune of his environmetalist supreme being. He’s powerful enough where he is.

“One man won the election, the other became a statesman. Who would have guessed?”
Actually, it’s the same man.
Gore has quite a track record, winning:
The Presidencey
The Oscar
The Emmy
The Nobel Prize
Running again would surely be anticlimactic.

Donny:
Saying the man whose wife helped get CDs labeled with warning stickers is “lascivious” and “licentious” is, well, ludicrous.
(Unless you’re talking about him giving Tipper that smacker, which last I checked, a loving husband is allowed to do to a loving wife.)

The man on the left was told he was a loser, so dug down deep and proved he is a winner; the man on the right was told he was a winner, so dug down deep and proved he is a

Guys, be honest instead of partisan. We do not know what life would have been like if Gore won the election. Things may have been better, things may have been worse. You don’t know, neither do I. For all we know, Gore might have completely messed up our response to 9/11 or been too extreme with his environmental policies. We don’t know. But I trust in God and I believe things are as they should be. If Hillary!, Obama, Edwards, etc. win, I believe things will happen as God intends. I will not vote for them, but I will support whoever wins as President and hope and pray he/she is successful. No matter who wins, God is in control, not man.