Gore-Obama 2008?

Joe Klein of Time Magazine says Al Gore may be the answer to the Democratic Party's problems. He says that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may be too damaged by their infighting to win the general election, so they could agree to the compromise candidacy of Al Gore. Obama may then become Gore's running mate.

This is a horrible idea, and not because of Al Gore himself. Nominating someone who has not even been in the running in the primaries would be far less democratic than nominating a candidate who is a close second in popular votes and pledged delegates. Also, I don't see why either camp should agree to this. Obama would rather be the presidential nominee, not the VP candidate, while Hillary Clinton has no reason to agree to a ticket which includes Obama, unless it includes her as well.

I must say I'd be much happier to vote for Al Gore than for Obama, but it would be morally (and possibly politically) wrong for the Democratic Party to nominate anybody other than the two candidates left standing.

Vladimir Vladimirovitch, 2007 Person of the Year

For some reason I thought Time Magazine would announce its choice for Person of the Year only on Friday, so I planned to write a post today about who I'd pick for the title. Vladimir Putin was my choice, but since Time already named him as POY today, you'll have to believe me that I really did think of him before the announcement.

Putin is as close as you can get to a natural choice. He has made more of an impact than just about anyone this year, flexing his international muscle on various issues: Iran, missile defense, Kosovo, etc., as well as fortifying his position in the Kremlin even as he prepares to leave the presidency. His heir presumptive, Dmitry Medvedev, will appoint him as Russia's next prime minister.

Time named four runners up: Al Gore, J.K. Rowling, Hu Jintao and Gen. David Petraeus. Of all of these, Hu Jintao is the only one I'd also pick as a runner up. The Chinese leader is changing his very important country. The others, on the other hand, have not had a great impact this year.

Al Gore was the rightful winner of the Nobel Prize, but most of what he did was in 2006. Thanks to him, most of the presidential candidates have addressed environmental issues, but again - this is the result of what he did last year.

J. K. Rowling wrote a series of books that got young people to read again. Her main impact came when she published the first books, not when she wrote the final novel or outed Dumbledore.

Gen. Petraeus has a tough job, but the war in Iraq is still a quagmire and he hasn't created such a sea change.

There are three others I would have chosen as runners-up, if I were a Time editor: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been a positive and influential leader at the national, European and International levels; Nikolas Sarkozy, the new French president who seems very different from anything we've seen in that country and who was able to stand up to striking workers protesting his plan to roll back some of their wasteful privileges; and Mahmoud Ahmedinijad, who has been able to drive the world crazy. Hugo Chavez would have made it into my list too, had his constitutional amendments been approved by Venezuelan voters.

Bill Clinton's Gore-ish Nightmare

Step 1 of Bill Clinton's nightmare is coming true. He had a dream of winning a Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. Now his former Vice-President, Al Gore, has gotten the nod while Clinton himself is empty handed. The next steps in the nightmare are as follows:

• Gore's Nobel convinces him he should run for president.
• Gore defeats Hillary in the primaries.
• Since Hillary is not elected president, Bill is not appointed Special Envoy to the Middle East, which would have been his best chance to earn his own Nobel.

So, Gore, December in Norway, January in Iowa? That would be interesting...

But enough about presidential politics. Do Al Gore and the United Nations' Panel on Climate Change deserve the prize? The Nobel committee certainly gave in to a trend. It's very fashionable to talk about global warming these days. That doesn't mean that it was wrong. It was right to address this issue this year.

Are Al Gore and the UN panel the climate change advocates most worthy of a prize? Yes, they are. Al Gore is not only the most prominent advocate, he's also been addressing the topic for decades. He didn't hop on a trendy bandwagon - he created it. The worthiness of the UN panel is less clear cut. On the one hand it didn't say anything that other scientists haven't been saying for years. On the other hand, it is the most high-level official panel to say these things, and that is their importance and that is why, in the final analysis, the panel is worthy of the Nobel.

SelectSmart Claims I Like Kucinich

According to SelectSmart.com's Presidential Selector, my top 3 ideal candidates in the 2008 race for president of the United States are Al Gore, Denis Kucinich and Hillary Clinton. It's true that I like Gore and Clinton, but Kucinich?!? Both Clinton and Kucinich got the same score - each one of them is compatible with my preferences 68% of the time. Aren't the two on different ends of the Democratic spectrum?

Turns out that I don't really agree with my two favorite Republicans - McCain and Giuliani (36% each). I must say I'm disappointed that none of the candidates, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike, have reached 70%. Maybe I should run myself (so what if I don't meet residency and age requirements).

Here are my full results:

1. Theoretical Ideal Candidate (100 %)
2. Al Gore (69 %)
3. Dennis Kucinich (68 %)
4. Hillary Clinton (68 %)
5. Joseph Biden (67 %)
6. Michael Bloomberg (66 %)
7. Christopher Dodd (64 %)
8. Barack Obama (63 %)
9. John Edwards (63 %)
10. Bill Richardson (62 %)
11. Wesley Clark (61 %)
12. Ron Paul (53 %)
13. Alan Augustson (53 %)
14. Mike Gravel (49 %)
15. Kent McManigal (40 %)
16. John McCain (36 %)
17. Tommy Thompson (36 %)
18. Rudolph Giuliani (36 %)
19. Mitt Romney (36 %)
20. Elaine Brown (33 %)
21. Tom Tancredo (31 %)
22. Chuck Hagel (30 %)
23. Mike Huckabee (27 %)
24. Newt Gingrich (25 %)
25. Jim Gilmore (24 %)
26. Fred Thompson (23 %)
27. Duncan Hunter (20 %)
28. Sam Brownback (19 %)