Big Al Wins the Big Prize

Okay, the moment has arrived and I have to admit it. I love Al Gore.

There, I said it.

And the world has come around to my point of view at last. The first time I heard about him was when he appeared on Dennis "I used to be a liberal" Miller's talk show after his first book, "Earth in the Balance," came out. He was sitting on Dennis's couch in a flannel shirt, talking about the environment and other issues, and I was struck by his intelligent but common sense approach to national problems. I thought, "Why isn't this guy running for President?"

Well, it wasn't long after that when he announced his bid for the Presidency, eventually becoming Bill Clinton's running mate. And then he impressed me even more when he picked himself up after the devastating election of 2000 when he and the Democrats were unhorsed by the outrageous fraud perpetrated by Bush, Cheney and Rove, and began his push for the recognition of global warming as not just an environmental, but a moral problem.

So this morning's news of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to him and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was a welcome acknowledgment of a guy I still think would make a great President.