What if al gore won

Bush, climate change would have become a major priority. The Biden administration, especially with its climate envoy John Kerry, provides a modicum of hope. However, Republicans, now extreme rightists, sadly have help from two Senate Democrats and may keep us locked in stasis. Based on past behavior, however, I remain dubious. To the editor: There is a concrete step that can be taken today, but it requires political will.

In California, we should pass a law forbidding the manufacture or use of thermostats that can set air conditioning below 76 degrees. One of the most horrible wastes I have seen is when entering a hotel room with the thermostat set at 65 degrees and the place is ice cold.

Of course, this would have to be phased in over a period of time, perhaps 18 months. There would need to be exceptions, including for medical labs, hospitals and a few other places, but this step would still save a huge amount of energy. To the editor: I think Goldberg pretty much answered his own question about dealing with the climate issues. As vice president and then as a candidate, Mr Gore had been caricatured as wooden and joyless.

He did little to dispel this reputation during the campaign, where he sometimes seemed overprepared and gauche. But that was all trivialised by the electoral meltdown in December — and by the events of the next eight years.

The Bush administration was still young when four planes were hijacked on 11 September , changing the course not just of the presidency but of global history.

The more important question is what Mr Gore would have done if the same atrocity had been committed on his watch. Would Mr Gore have prosecuted the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? Neither hawkish nor dovish, the speech saw Mr Gore dive deep into the arguments circulating at the time, probing different post-war scenarios and strategies and warning what might happen to loose stockpiles of Iraqi chemical and biological weapons — ultimately never found — if the country descended into chaos. Extraordinary rendition, for instance, was used many times in the s.

Inaugurated under extraordinarily messy circumstances with a minority of the popular vote, Bush began his term under a cloud, but he and his administration were apparently unperturbed by any potential legitimacy problem.

For the ensuing eight years, and particularly after the Iraq War began, alarm and disgust at the Bush presidency only grew more and more intense. The embarrassments, outrages and horrors were legion. But our grandchildren will still be living with, and struggling with, the economic consequences of Mr. Bush and eight years of President Gore. Any Democrat who cannot tell the difference needs a serious kick in the butt. Stay tuned. I predict the day will come when we will know for sure what President Gore would do, when President Gore does it.

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