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American elections 2008: The Dream ticket |
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Written by Dave Nyambati
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Saturday, 02 June 2007 |
It is August 28th, 2008 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, can barely contain a
wide, tooth-filled smile as he half walks - half jogs to the podium.
America the beautiful is blaring through the speakers and the raucous crowd is whipped up to a frantic frenzy.
"On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation, land of Lincoln, let me express my deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention," Obama starts and the crowd roars its approval, the sound seeming to shake the walls of the mammoth sports arena. Obama, still smiling, raises his hand in a half-hearted attempt to quiet the crowd but the crowd responds with even louder chants of "Obama, Obama".
"Our long political darkness will soon be over and a brighter day is coming," Obama says coming to the end of yet another heart wrenching, impassioned speech. He pauses for a moment and the crowd of over 4,000 glares at him as if in a trance. An elderly black lady with the Hawaii caucus wipes the tears that have been streaming down her face for about five minutes now – looking into the face of her one time pupil.
"It is my honor, my privilege, to introduce to you the next President of the United States, Al Gore." Obama concludes and the crowd is once more thrown into an uncontainable furor. Al Gore walks up to Obama and hugs him passionately, before lifting his hand in the air in a symbol of unity while looking over a sea of blue and white "Gore-Obama, Our Future-Our Hope" signs.
This is what a growing number of democrats view as their ideal candidate ticket for the 2008 presidential election. And who can blame them. Gore and Obama, are the two people who have elicited the most excitement from the democratic base this election season. Obama surprised many pundits by beating the odds and drawing a lot more support than any other previous black candidate. But it is Gore who has accomplished the near impossible – he has reinvented his political image 30 years after he began his political career.
If you would have told anyone circa 2000 that Al Gore would someday be viewed as one of the most exciting candidates, you would probably have been dismissed as being in the beginning stages of mental illness. Gore, still smarting from his defeat, decided to focus on the environment, a topic he has been passionate about since his youth. An Inconvenient Truth, his Academy Award-winning documentary film about climate change, has grossed about $50,000,000 in the year since its launch. Despite a smear campaign by the Republican National Congress (RNC), Gore has almost single handedly managed to refocus the American public's attention on what he calls "the biggest crisis in human history".
Shortly after the release of his documentary, several grass roots movements were launched to try and convince the former Vice President to run in the 2008 election.
According to a recent Time magazine article titled "The last Temptation of Al Gore", two independent websites, Draft Gore and AlGore, have gathered almost 150,000 signatures so far towards this goal.
Although Al Gore, only the fourth man in U.S. history to win the popular vote, but lose the presidential election, has claimed to have "fallen out of love with politics" – he has left open the possibility that he might still run, a point not lost on election observers. Even Bill Clinton brought this up in an interview on a recent appearance on Larry King Live.
"The Democrats running for president are gifted people and they deserve to be seriously listened to, and you have got the prospect that vice president Gore might run," Clinton said.
With Hillary Clinton still clinging to a double digit lead in the polls, the 'Run Gore' crowd has come up with what they consider the ultimate secret ingredient - a pinch of Obama. Al Gore's current poll numbers are at the mid-teens, in a virtual tie with John Edwards for third place. If he decides to run, pundits have projected him to poll somewhere in the high twenties – tied for first place with Hillary. This would still end up being a sprint to the finish, with no guaranteed victory, odds many Gore supporters are loath to take having been burnt once by a close race. However, a combined Gore-Obama ticket would theoretically trounce all competition leaving a long trail of broken aspirations all the way to the White House.
Gore against a Clinton would erase all the anti-Clinton vibe that had energized some of Republican base – with Gore being labeled a Clinton lackey (Gore partially blamed Bill Clinton for his 2000 loss). If Gore joined the race, the gamble would be Obama's to make. With Gore, Obama would get infused with all the qualities people say he lacks right now and the hard earned experience 30 years in politics would bring. Gore would bring the substance and Obama would bring the zest. Gore bringing the fortitude and Obama the idealism. Experience imbued with passion, a formidable team, a dream team.
Eight years later, Obama could run for the White House, a stronger wiser and more seasoned politician in both domestic and foreign policy.
The current democratic primary race is crowded with the most talented crop of candidates ever fielded, but as history would suggest, there is always space for one more!
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 02 June 2007 )
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