Frank Rich: Gore Should Run in 2008

E&P summarizes Frank Rich's Sunday column, in which he praises Gore's leadership: "In is Sunday column for The New York Times, Frank Rich joined the chorus of those urging that former Vice President Al Gore run for president. Rich does not endorse him, but does suggest he is preferable to Hillary Clinton as a Democratic candidate.

The main reason: Unlike Hillary ('a weak candidate') he has shown leadership and not been afraid to stand out front on an issue. Where once Hillary 'inspired passions pro and con, now she often induces apathy,' Rich writes. 'Her most excited constituency seems to be the right-wing pundits who still hope to make a killing with books excoriating her.'

But Rich does not point to the global warming issue to hail Gore's toughness -- in fact, he finds the new Gore movie about that subject a little too much of a campaign ad. What he really finds most positive about Gore is that he raised an alarm about an Iraq invasion six months before it took place -- and then was early to criticize the White House's handling of the war later. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has acted paralyzed.
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