December 14, 2003
Al Gore Is Not A Leader
Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean was opportunistic and calculated. And it was given just days before the capture of Saddam Hussein. With Dean, to paraphrase James Lileks, chumming the waters with red meat to the benefit only of his most ardent lefty supporters, Al's endorsement is now incredibly stupid as well. Dean's comment to take the "American label" off the conflict is just crap.
Al Gore has always impressed me as someone who functions on the level of trying to be the guy he thinks what others want him to be rather than making up his mind and sticking to a decision because he thinks it's right. He clearly picked that up from one of his mentors.
Leaders are not opportunistic in this manner. They hold their course, through both the popular and the unpopular moments of their decision. They do not betray loyalties. George W. Bush has held, and is holding, his course in foreign policy, all the while being pelted by both domestic and international vitriol. I really shudder to think where America would be had Al Gore made it into the White House. Ugh.