WASHINGTON: Eco-crusader Al Gore took centre stage among the rock stars yesterday to promote the Live Earth concerts aimed at raising awareness about global warming.
And as Gore was propelled into the media spotlight by the concerts in nine major cities, the former US vice president took a swipe at global warming doubters who accuse environmentalists of scaremongering.
“Some who don’t understand what is now at stake tried to stop this event on the Mall,” he said at the first US concert in Washington in a thinly veiled hit on members of President George W Bush’s Republican party. “But here we are.”
Washington was a last-minute addition to the global event months after organisers failed to find a space on the US capital’s National Mall, a sprawling green space featuring monuments including the Congress building.
Gore, who was later to address the New York concert, has campaigned for years warning of the dangers of climate change, and has seen his popularity soar as the world turns “green.”
The release of his Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth won him widespread appeal, and Gore’s obvious passion for the issue has demolished his old image as a boring, pedantic lecturer who droned on and on in a monotone – a characterisation that countless comedians had poked fun at.
Indeed he has been nearly as busy recently downplaying rumors of another presidential bid, after he narrowly lost the 2000 elections to Bush, whose term expires at the end of 2008.
“I don’t have any plans or intentions to be a candidate again and really the main reason is I’m involved in a different kind of campaign,” Gore said, adding that global warming is “the most serious crisis our civilisation has ever faced.”
Even the arrest last week of Gore’s son – who was pulled over for speeding while driving a low-emissions car and was found to possess marijuana and prescription drugs – did little to tarnish his father’s image.
“We’re glad that he’s safe and that he’s getting treatment and we’re going to leave it as a family matter,” Gore said in an interview on NBC news.
With that, the career politician seamlessly moved on to the international stage, delivering his message for individual action and political pressure to urge governments to set climate change targets.
Gore, a Democrat, served as a representative in the House for three terms and was a two-time senator from Tennessee before becoming vice president alongside then president Bill Clinton during one of the country’s greatest economic booms.
During his political career, he also gained prominence for sponsoring legislation to support growth in computer technology, but drew criticism for once boasting in 1999: “I took the initiative in creating the Internet.”
Born in the nation’s capital on March 31, 1948, Gore shuttled between his home in Tennessee and a hotel in Washington where his father served in the House of Representatives, and later in the Senate.
The environment has long been one of Gore’s committed causes, as well as his well honed understanding of even the most minor nuances of both foreign and domestic policy.
He opposed the US war in Vietnam, but nevertheless enlisted in the army in 1969 so – as he said – “someone else wouldn’t have to go in my place.”
Just before leaving for Vietnam he married his girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth “Tipper” Aitcheson. The couple now has three grown daughters and one son.
In 1988 Gore jumped into the presidential race, but had a disappointing showing in New York and failed to get the Democratic Party nomination.
Four years later, Gore put aside his White House aspirations to serve as Clinton’s vice president, which he did until his own failed presidential bid ground his political career to a halt in 2000.
While he denies planning to run again, opinion polls have shown that Gore is not too far behind Democratic hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, with about 15% of support.
However, Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at the University of Southern California, said she doubted Gore - who is among 181 nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize which is announced in October – would enter the running.
“I don’t think at this point he’s thinking about it. He’s having so much fun where he is,” Jeffe said.
“His image problems have been waylaid by An Inconvenient Truth,” Jeffe said. “What you see in the film is what you get when you meet him - an Al Gore who is charming, witty and does have some personality.” – AFP
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