Al Gore & 2004 (with poll)

First, I congratulate Al Gore and the IPCC on winning the Nobel Peace Prize.  It is an award that hopefully will further highlight the IMMEDIATE need to curb greenhouse gases that are destroying the planet.

Second, let me be clear about this:  I have voted for Al Gore in every Presidential election since 1988, with the exception of 2004.  I didn't vote for Al Gore in 2004 because he came out fairly early on, and discouraged all the efforts of the grassroots to entice him to run.  So I am unabashedly biased.

Which bring me to . . .

. . . common courtesy.  

Is there anyone on this board who believes Al Gore is something other than a courteous human being?

To repeat, in 2004, Al Gore stopped grassroots efforts to press his candidacy.  But here in 2008, Al Gore has not unequivocally stopped the grassroots efforts out there that are working hard (even as I type this diary) to, say, get Al's name on the ballot in the great State of Michigan.

Gore has said in the past that he could very well run in 2008 if he perceived that not enough was being done to curb the worldwide menace of global warming.  Well, whatever efforts are being done out there about global warming -- Al Gore's efforts included -- they are not enough.  Not to mention the melting of the arctic ice cap at a rate that was completely unthinkable even 5 months ago.

To be brutally frank, if Al Gore is serious about global warming and all the rest -- the ramifications of which go to the very foundations of human civilization -- then Al must pull up his breeches and electrify his followers sooner rather than later.  He has been thinking about running for some time now, no doubt.  And now he has that unpoliticized Nobel Prize.  

So here it is:  Al Gore needs to let the cat out of the bag viz-a-viz a 2008 run right now.  Because there's a massive amount of work to be done.  Al's holding 4 aces in his hand, so Al -- Are you in or are you out?

And if Al decides to sit out 2008, then that's his right.  While I might think such a decision to be a mistake, I'm not Al Gore.  And Al Gore needs to do what Al Gore thinks is best for Al Gore.

Nonetheless, there are innumerable people out there working their fingers to the bone to help Al Gore in the 2008 election cycle.  They deserve a modicum of common courtesy.  Just as many others deserved, and got, from Al Gore in 2004.

The Nobel Prize is well-won.  And important.  But time is short.  And so much hard work looms ahead.

It is time to get down to business one way or another.  It's time for Al Gore to lead, or . . . For those of us who would have supported Al Gore, to move along.

The ball's squarely in Al Gore's court now that he has won the Nobel Prize.

Al . . . .  We're waiting.  It's time to cut the riddles.