Draft Gore!

Al Gore didn't inspire me in 2000. That was true, at least, until his concession speech 36 days after the election that year: "There is a higher duty than the one we owe to political party."

That speech, of course, came nine months before September 11. It came before all of the efforts of the Bush administration to consolidate power in the executive branch and to limit our civil liberties in the name of security. It came before our pre-emptive--and in retrospect, mistaken--invasion of Iraq. It came before the increasingly harsh and partisan politics of the last six years... a period when the concept of the common good has all but been extinguished.

But Gore came back. He found his voice in speaking about global warming. He has won an Oscar and has been nominated for a Nobel prize.

Humility. Compassion. Commitment. Wisdom. All words that today I would use to describe Al Gore.

While Gore has said that he has no plans to run again, perhaps if he hears from enough of us he will reconsider. I just signed a couple of petitions to draft Al Gore to run for the presidency in 2008. If you are so inclined and are hungry for a change yourself, go here and here. You can also get on his mailing list at AlGore.com.