Will Al Gore Endorse Hillary or Obama? Or No One?
The argument of the above piece is best summed up by this note (with my emphasis):
The key question is: Which Al Gore?
(And I don't mean this question in a cynical and reductive earth-tone suits kind of way).
As I have noted recently, this campaign is both about issues AND about process.
This article presupposes that only Policy Al Gore cares about political endorsements. And to that extent, the article is correct that Hillary is pimping her Science policy to the Utilitarian Al Gore with the explicit statement, very Clintonian, "I'll like whatever policy you want me to like, Baby. Let's just get in the sack together." And if Al Gore believes the sincerity of the proposal (to the degree that Hillary can be seen as sincere) and if he believes has the muscle to "get shit done" (which is the fundamental rational of her campaign) then yes, he will endorse Hillary.
But Process Al Gore has a say, too. Process Al Gore chose to engage the country in a discussion about global warming rather than beat people up with divisive sound bites (this is, of course, debateable on points, but I think his overall intent was to circumvent the simplistic transactional politics that we are trapped in). But more importantly, Process Al Gore founded a TV station (Current TV) whose purpose is to change the terms of the debate, and the process of the debate, that seems counter to the Clintonian method. And finally, Al Gore was faced with a similar choice before and he chose Dean, the internet candidate, and I suspect it was on Process rather than Policy that made the call.
And so, on balance, I suspect he will endorse Obama.
However, the hiccup is that he endorsed Dean and then Dean tanked. So it is an open question: Does Gore really want to endorse anyone? And if he does, does Obama (or Hillary) really want what could be perceived as a kiss of death?
