waiting for gore
by Paige Cram
Published: January 17, 2008
I’ve been fantasizing about Al Gore.
That’s right. I have dreams in which I meet the former Vice President after winning a speech-writing contest for some environmental fundraising event. After shaking my hand, and congratulating me on my incredible writing ability, he lets me tag along for the rest of his busy day. As we head to his next event (in the dream, he drives his own electric car), we chat about the upcoming presidential election and where we both stand on his refusal to enter the race. He’s no match for me though, and at the end of a very heated debate, he simply says, “You’re right. Okay, I’ll run.” The dream is always the same, but every day when my alarm goes off, the reality is more and more grim.
If I could say one thing to the Vice President in real life, it would be this: this is not about what you want. My winning conclusion in my dream is that leadership isn’t always about doing what you want to do; it’s about doing what needs to be done. Let’s face it: this country is in trouble. We haven’t been so divided since the Civil War, and while it seems we’re beginning to agree that we’re headed in the wrong direction, our “bipartisan” congress can’t seem to figure out how to turn us around.
In the meantime, the current candidates are all starting to sound the same and they’re too busy attacking each other to pay much attention to the issues or the voters themselves. When will it end? When will we see this promised change in politics?
For the past few months, I’ve been an active member of DraftGore, a grass roots movement with over 230,000 members (at the time of this writing) whose purpose was to convince the former Vice President to run for office again. The group collected signatures, sent letters, ran a full page ad in the New York Times, aired a television ad and even created a catchy little theme song begging Gore to “Run, Al, run!” All of these actions were fully funded by its supporters, people like me, who were holding out hope for 2008.
For months, we denied the inevitable, and we waited patiently, like eager concert-goers expecting an encore. All the while, the lights were off, and the stage was empty, but we stayed put, cheering until our voices were hoarse, believing that he wouldn’t let us down. After all, we paid for these tickets, damnit. But as of a couple weeks ago, DraftGore has put away its lighters and its supporters are heading for the parking lot to face the two hours of traffic to get home. We’re tired, we’re sore, and we’re feeling a little defeated, but we have to respect the Vice President’s wishes.
In a poignant farewell address, the leaders of DraftGore wrote that while the group is ceasing its formal activity, “the dream is not over yet.” Funny, though. I just pinched myself, and I sure can feel it.
I have another recurring dream where I run around my house trying to turn the lights on, only to discover that there is no electricity anywhere. As the sun sets, and the house gets dark, a panic sets in until I wake up in a cold sweat.
Watching these primaries unfold feels very much the same way - like all my efforts to achieve what I want are futile and time is quickly running out. Except this time, it’s all real; there’s no waking up from this particular nightmare.
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