Does anyone wonder whether the world would be a different place had Al Gore won the 2000 election?

[homemama]

I've listened to two interviews with him in the last two days and it just struck me how sincere and passionate he was, both about climate change and human rights.

So I just wondered how things may have been different had Florida gone the other way.
Would the US have signed up to Kyoto? Would they (and us) have gone to war in Iraq?

Just wondering.

He really did very little about the environment when he was VP. I know it's not a hugely powerful role, but Cheney seems to have done quite a bit with it. I think he's mostly mouth and not very much trousers. Heart in the right place, though.

He did say he was late waking up to it. TBH, I think all Cheney has done is pay lip servive to world pressure.

Maybe it's easier to run with the baton when you're not in the race IYKWIM!

It is fairly easy to be passionate about things when you don't have the obligation to carry them out.

I remember seeing an interview with Tony Blair before he came to power and thinking what a genuinely decent and passionate man he seemed.

I still think that about TB, even though I think he made some huge errors of judgement.

I watched an episode of West Wing the other night and it actually made me quite depressed thinking 'I bet these witty and eloquent exchanges never happen there these days.'

Just wanted to clarify that I'm NOT a Cheney fan - but he sure has been an influential VP.

The problem with Gore is that he's not very charismatic, which is a big impediment for a President. If Gore had been President with a hostile Republican Congress, having just scraped a win in the election, his hands would have been tied and I don't think he would have accomplished much. (Would almost certainly not have invaded Iraq, though.)

The thing about chimp-boy nob-twist Bush is that he is charismatic (in the eyes of a lot of Americans, anyway), and had a passionate base of supporters and a supportive Congress, at least at the beginning.

I agree with you, homemama. I was making the same point you did in your second post