Where was this Al Gore 8-9 years ago? He’s certainly come into his own over the past number of years, hasn’t he? What an amazing speech. I felt proud. Anyone have a YouTube link? I couldn’t find one yet.
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PaulW
He’s always been there. It was just 1) the MSM hates him, and 2) his handlers in 2000 didn’t aim for the snark demographic.
benjamin
And yet the fact he waited until mid-June to deliver that speech shows that old Al Gore is still not completely gone.
jagorev
some video here:
cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/06/16/sot.gore.endorses.obama.cnn
TenguPhule
Some people confuse wisdom with stupidity.
Mr. Tactful
Gore is most certainly best when he’s in F-you mode, which is seldom. Even when in such a mode, he isn’t offensive, just effective. I suppose the mode is relative.
Jon H
Maybe his buddy Steve Jobs has been coaching him on technique.
jake
Shhh! Non-Republicans who use the P-word get sent to the DFH Re-normalization & Bible Camp.
Incertus
There were glimmers of that Gore in 2000 as the campaign wound to a close and Gore retook the lead in the polls, but that Gore really started to show up in the Moveon speeches he gave in 2002 or 2003 (can’t remember which) which were discussed in the press as “Gore’s lost his mind” et cetera.
The Grand Panjandrum
I recall the speech(es) he gave prior to the war in Iraq. Pretty damn effective speeches that showed some fire in his belly. Had he done so during the Presidential GE it may well have proved a deciding factor.
forked tongue
That man should have been president. He still should be. There isn’t another person in the United States more qualified, and that his chance to be was stolen is just yet another crime to be laid at the feet of Bush/Cheney/Scalia/Nader et. al.
Rosali
MSNBC video
marjowil
Just got back from the rally in Detroit. When I saw Al Gore come out with Barack, I couldn’t believe it! It was a great gift to Detroit to show we weren’t forgotten, after all, just like John Edwards coming to Grand Rapids.
There’s a comment at the GOS that links to a youtube of Al on the campaign trail in 2000, with the Clintons looking on. pretty dynamic clip, and the commenter says Gore was always like that.
aka The Hammer
Wow! I just watched the speech. Al really did it tonight. While I’ve heard him come close, I think Obama has energized the party, and the country, in ways no one has since JFK.
The people in the party aren’t afraid any more – or many aren’t. The Clinton/Bush fear mongering seems to be fading fast – halleluja!!!
The winds of change blowing strong!
J. Michael Neal
I think that it’s pretty clear that Al Gore was running for President because he’d been raised to be President. It isn’t so much that he didn’t want to be President, as that Al Gore didn’t really know what he wanted to do. As bad as it was for the rest of us, losing was liberating for him personally.
In the eight years since then, he’s found his own voice. He’s found his own life. Because of that, he’s much more comfortable, and less stiff.
jagorev
Yeah, I gotta agree that it’s the proximity to Hopey effect. Supporting Barack makes even John Kerry seem energetic and vital.
The Grand Panjandrum
I think Bush/Cheney deserve a little credit as well. Obama is certainly capitalizing on the mood of the country, but the Bush/Cheney cabal have most of us yearning for a President who will at least talk to us like we’re adults. We (the American people) know we’re better than the last eight years have made us look as a nation.
Rosali
Damn, that was a powerful speech! If Gore tours FL with that same message, he will deliver the state for Obama. Gore won the state in 2000 and there are more people energized since then.
P.S. My cat is totally in the tank for Obama.
Sleeper
This speech was a complete slap in the face to Hillary.
taodon
Gee, what a profile in courage – to endorse after Obama crossed the finish line. Oooh, thanks for taking a stand, Al.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
His magical transcending-ness even brings cats and dogs together.
next up: lambs and lions.
Delia
There’s a lot to this. And it goes beyond what you say. I think when Gore and even Kerry ran, normally civilized people didn’t have a plan of attack for coping with the full range of shit that the modern radical right entailed: the smears and lies that originated with Fox and Drudge and ended up in the “respectable” press, the vote suppression shenagigans, the whole mess with the Florida vote and then in 2004 with Ohio. Gore giving up because it’s the “civilized” thing to do, unable to comprehend at the time that he’s not dealing with civilized beings.
Well, in this primary season both Hillary and Barack, each in their own way, recognized the necessity of dealing on this new level. The difference is that Hillary seemed to be committed to the principle of fighting fire with fire, and Obama to the idea of calling out and naming the enemy yet refusing to descend to their level. This has energized people like Gore and Kerry and given them a power they didn’t manifest in their own campaigns.
Dennis - SGMM
I hadn’t thought of it that way but, what you wrote makes a great deal of sense. I could never put the effective and intelligent Senator Gore together with the wooden presidential candidate Gore. His demeanor now bears out your thoughts. The 2000 election was a huge disappointment for me all right but I take heart from the advocate that Al Gore is now. That was one stem-winding speech. Bravo!
Conservatively Liberal
Al was my first hope for this election, but Obama has more than made up for it. Seeing the two of them working together is going to fire up both the party and the people. ‘Losing’ the 2000 election only made Gore a better person. Before, he always seemed to be trying to show everyone that he was a great politician, but now that he has a bit of his ‘own’ life under his belt he seems to project a more confident Al than in the past.
With Al on the road pushing for Obama, I can only see good coming out of it. I am sure the right will try to lay into Gore at the first chance they get, but I think Al will handle it just fine. Besides, the right has given him all of the ammo he will ever need to respond to them.
This is going to be one interesting election, that is for damn sure. He laid it down real well tonight, and I think he is just getting started.
Delia
Unfortunately, neither of my cats cares at all about politics. My dog, however, will vote for whomever I tell him to.
Dusty
People keep saying this, but it seemed to me that Gore just didn’t want to get engaged in that level of party politics. He wants to get a Democrat elected, but he presumably wanted to be able to work with whichever Democrat got the nod. So he held off endorsing. It never seemed to me like a question of courage.
Dennis - SGMM
I think that we’ll see more of just how thoroughly Obama understands this as the campaign goes on. He reminds me of people I knew in another life of whom we would say, “He does ’em up so nice that they take three steps before they figure out they’re dead.”
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
That’s my impression too.
I also think the timing of this “endorsement” was another sign that the Obama people are really good at handling the media by playing their Aces one at a time with patience and a feel for the ebb and flow of the media cycles (excluding unexpected events like TR passing away suddenly).
I suspect that this rally with Gore was planned shortly after Hillary’s endorsement speech, and timed to give Obama another little bump in mid-June after the “Hillary endorses” story had faded from view. It reminds me of the way they dribbled out the super-delegate announcements and especially the Edwards endorsement during the nomination contest.
There has been some debate (e.g. on the 538 comment threads) about how much of a bounce Obama has gotten coming off of Hillary’s speech, and whether the bounce is big enough (compared with the post-convention bounce of past campaigns).
I think that may be framing the analysis in an old-fashioned way which misses something new – I expect to see the Obama campaign orchestrating a whole series of events (like this rally with Gore) during the summer, with the intent of building up a slow incremental movement upwards in the polls that is less vulnerable to deflation than the usual one big convention-centric bounce, and has the effect of sucking all the oxygen out of the media environment on a semi-weekly basis.
McCain’s people are going to get very frustrated discovering that every time they start to get some traction with some story favoring them in the media, the Obama camp will pull out of their hats something else new and shiny and sparkly to change the focus yet again.
johninpt
I’m starting to believe that Gore will be offered and will accept the VP nom.
rachel
Meeeeeeow!
(BTW, Obama has not “crossed the finish line”; there is that fairly major matter of the general election to get over. You know, the campaign against the Republican candidate? The one Gore is endorsing Obama against? The one Gore would have endorsed Hillary against had she won the nomination? That one?)
Beej
Wow! Just viewed the MSNBC video. Where was this Al Gore in 2000? I often thought then that he was being “over-handled”(if there is such a word). Trying too hard not to offend anyone. Damn, he’d have won Florida going away if he’d delivered a few more speeches like this one.
Dylan
IIRC, the persons responsible for “eight years of incompetence, negligence and failure” in 2000 weren’t Republicans.
ThymeZone
Gore didn’t have an administration to run against in 2000, he was the administration that Bush ran against.
That’s why he didn’t sound like this in 2000.
Pooh
Preach, brother Al!
Ninerdave
Bingo!
John
FTR, we’re stupid for voting for GWB not once, but twice. It was a race between a human and a monkey and we voted for the monkey….twice. He squawked “war” and everyone followed including Hillary. In 2002 60% of american voters believed saddam hussein was behind 9/11.
What concerns me is something McCain said two weeks ago “I’m surprised someone so young would buy into so many failed ideas.” Does anyone know what he’s referring to?
West Virginia Rebel
Andrew Sullivan has the video up now.
I’ll say this for Al Gore-he seems to have come into his own as an activist. I may not agree with him a lot of the time but the guy seems happier now than he would have been staying in politics.
Dave_Violence
Kiss of death for BO.
ahhhh
As a Hillary supporter during the primary who thought the majority of Obama supporters on teh internets were (and sometimes still are, maybe) kinda douchebag-ey, well. I was very very proud tonight. And very much ready to smash McCain up. And Obama’s looking better every day so it’s all yays on this end. And I’m Canadian so none of this actually matters, but it’s my birthday and I’m drunk, so whatever.
!!!
Baron Elmo
Personally, I blame Gore’s handlers and the DNC nellies for damping down the man’s fire… though to be fair, he did listen to them. Hell, he had Bob Shrum AND Mark Penn giving him advice, a one-two punch of mediocrity that could render the liveliest of politicians bland as a Wonder Bread sandwich.
Gore’s decision NOT to run strong on environmental issues was on the advice of his campaign advisers… the Bush boys were supposedly stunned (and delighted) that Al would so blithely throw away one of the strongest cards in his poker hand.
One of the best things about Obama’s primary victory (and Howard Dean helming the DNC) is how little credence those guys give GOP-lite Democrat dweebs like Shrum, Carville, McAuliffe and Penn. Let them all make their bones as windbag pundits, I don’t care – just keep ’em the fuck away from my party.
Incertus
Just to remind everyone–Gore did win Florida going away, or rather, he would have if Jeb! and Katherine Harris hadn’t been successful in removing thousands of African-Americans from the voting rolls before the 2000 elections. That story, to this day, is the most under-reported tale of Florida 2000, and it’s a travesty that neither of the two are in jail for it.
RoonieRoo
ThatLeftTurnInABQ nailed it. I think it is completely intentional that Al waited until now. They are waiting to drop each of these one at a time as we get closer to the convention.
It’s brilliant as Obama is eating up every news cycle and McCain is choking in the background from lack of oxygen.
We are mixed in our house in that we still are angry over the 2000 election and that loss but at the same time, look at the amazing things that Gore has done as a private citizen. If he had won the election he would have had a hideously hostile congress and he would not have been able to get any of his agenda through.
As a private citizen he has done more for moving forward the work we need to do for the environment and, frankly, the future safety and dependence on oil issues for the country than he could possibly have done as President. It’s a mixed bag. We would probably not have had Iraq but would we have what he accomplished with Inconvenient Truth and all that.
I’m so thrilled with that speech and him stepping into the active role of helping us elect Obama now. I can’t wait for the next card that the Obama campaign plays.
sheila
Al Gore did give speeches just like this when he was running but got the merde kicked out of him by nearly every harpy in the press (= all the press). What makes you all so sure that if he kept it up, or if he tried something more different a la wearing brown, that the press wouldn’t have kept piling up on him? You all seem to forget what unprofessional, crappy treatment the man got. Wake the f**k up!@
pinola
Indeed, this Gore was around in 2003-04. He endorsed Dean and gave even more rousing speeches than this on his behalf, in large part because of Dean’s stance on the war. Gore was bombastic, brilliant and righteously outraged.
He was then ridiculed, scorned and assigned to the dustbin of history by the media for doing so, since, as we all know, Howard Dean is a lunatic.
Anyone who was paying attention back then knows that this particular speech is some soft core ‘vintage Gore.’
pinola
sheila @ 6:56
You nailed it, btw.
Balakirev
Speeches to one side, I think we’re looking at the next Secretary of Energy.
Shygetz
Dear Zombie Jesus, please oh PLEASE give me eight more years of the same style of “incompetence, negligence and failure” that we had in the Clinton Administration. While it may not be exactly what I’d want, it is immeasurably better than the crap you’ve been raining down on me these last eight years. Amen.
susan
After the past 8 years, even our dogs and our cats recognize the need for change. That line cracked me and my husband up. Too funny.
I said this on HuffPo. If this man had run for president 8 years ago, he would have won. But remember who his handlers were, Donna Brazille, maybe even Bob never won an election but kept on getting posh campaign positions Shrum. I think that like the Great Orange Satan said in his book is true. Democrats were going with the same people in their campaigns over and over again, even if those people didn’t know how to win an election to save their lives. Gore would have won had he chosen new people with fresh ideas instead of losers like Brazille and Shrum. And I was proud too. Gore was great last night. And he was my first choice for the presidency this year. But I understand why he didn’t run. After what he went through with the media and the right wing attack machine last time, who can blame him. He’s above all the crap now. He’s the Goracle.
rachel
I bet it eats some wingnuts up when they see how much happier Gore is now, and how like a sad, molting monkey Bush looks: Gore lost! How dare he ever show his face again, much less be more popular and influential than our guy? Our guy won, dammit! He should be the one that gets all the respect, not that loser!
:)
Egilsson
Criminy, yet another thread exploring the question, “gee, why did Democrat X sound like this X years ago?”
THEY DID. All these democratic-johnnie-come-latelys” were blind to it. The fault is not Gore’s, or Kerry’s, or Dean’s, or Dukakis, or whomever. It’s the fault of people who allowed themselves to be buffaloed by the right wing noise machine who spread what were clearly lies or distortions.
Gore in particular was the subject of savage press attacks that were spectacularly unfair and dishonest. Alterman had a great article about it.
For me, Gore is still the best man for the Presidency. If somehow Obama could get him on the ticket, that’s fine too.
dmhlt
For those YouTube folks who like to either Rate, Favorite or Comment:
Here’s the first 9 1/2 minutes.
(Poster said it’d be in two parts – but apparently hasn’t posted the second part yet.)
David Hunt
I wish that influential part were true, but Bush is still POTUS. That position has more influence than Gore has ever had, even after Bush has shit all over the job and achieved lower approval ratings than VD.
OTOH, once Bush is out of office, Gore will have more influence in his big toe than Bush has in his whole body. I look forward to that day…
ThymeZone
No, let’s not rewrite history, Gore wasn’t making speeches of this quality in 2000. He was affectionately known as “The Dentist” for his ability to both bore and annoy listeners who were trapped into hearing him for more than five minutes.
He had important things to say, but really did not have the delivery to go with them.
However, as bad as he was most of the time, he did manage to get more votes than the other guy. It just wasn’t enough votes in the right states.
john b
here’s part two
The Other Steve
If Gore had sounded like this back in 2000, the right-wing news machine would have called him a radical liberal.
Oh wait, they did.
Crust
Where was this Al Gore 8-9 years ago?
It was pretty much the same Al Gore back in 1999-2000. It’s just that the media hated him and people remember the media’s spin more than Gore himself. Hate is no exaggeration for the media’s attitude then. Read Bob Somerby’s archives for that period if you don’t believe me. E.g. when people watched the debates in real time they thought Gore had won. After seeing a couple of days of the press’ coverage of the same debates, people thought Bush had won.
dmhlt
UPDATE for YouTube Fans:
Here’s the whole thing in one package
HyperIon
I do not think it means what you think it means.