Parallel Universe - Gore Watch
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Shirleypal
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Ellen Goodman: Al Gore's 'encore career'
He may not have invented the Internet, but he and the rest of the baby boomers have invented a whole new stage of life
Friday, October 19, 2007
BOSTON - Until now, I believed that the smallest unit of time was between the moment the traffic light turned green and the car behind you honked. I was wrong. The shortest unit is actually between the moment you win the Nobel Peace Prize and someone asks if you're running for president.
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Ellen Goodman is a syndicated columnist for The Boston Globe ([email protected]).
------------------------------------------------- -----
This is the story of Al Gore. It's wrapped succinctly in the Time magazine headline: "Gore Wins the Nobel. But Will He Run?" The best answer came from congenitally sardonic congressman, Rahm Emanuel: "Why would he run for president when he can be a demigod?"
Indeed, if the man who is free at last from politics has learned anything, it's that becoming a candidate means open season on his weight, his wit, his wisdom and his son's arrest record. Besides, which would you rather do, save the Earth or dial for dollars in Iowa? The attention on Al Gore's trajectory from loser to laureate misses something about this second act and second actor. As he approaches 60, Gore's staking out something of a new path for his generation.
Consider the new sixtysomethings. On Monday, 61-year-old Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the first baby boomer and a retired teacher, signed up for early Social Security benefits. Next Friday, Hillary Clinton turns 60 and her second act is running for president. And when the new Harvard president, Drew Faust, 60, met with her Bryn Mawr classmates last summer? Many were talking about leaving their "extreme jobs" just as she was installed in hers.
Baby boomers are the first generation that can look forward to such a lengthy and (fingers crossed) healthy stage of later life. They are as likely to be talking about what they want to do next as about where they want to retire. Never mind all those declarations that 60 is the new 40. In fact, 60 is the new 60.
The stage of life called adolescence was only invented a century ago.
Today, says Rosabeth Kanter, Harvard Business School professor and a founder of the university's Advanced Leadership Initiative, "we have a chance to invent another stage of life that doesn't have a name yet." And Al Gore is its poster child, the model for what Marc Freedman calls the "encore career."
The head of Civic Ventures, a think tank promoting civic engagement as the second act for boomers, Mr. Freedman says, "Mr. Gore found himself by losing himself -- literally losing -- and being liberated from ambition, the idea that there's a particular ladder you have to scurry up and if you don't make it to the top it's all over. Essentially he found a different ladder."
Alas, Mr. Gore's "liberation" came with a little help from the Supreme Court. But he spent time in the wilderness -- bearded and academic, rested and restless -- before reconnecting with what he cared most about. It was there, all the time, in the huge satellite photograph of the Earth that hung on the wall of his office.
There's an inconvenient hole in "An Inconvenient Truth." Mr. Gore never confronts his failure to accomplish more on climate change while vice president. But elsewhere he has implied that he'll be better at "creating that sea change in mass opinion" to force this agenda from the outside.
This, says Mr. Freedman, "is the classic baby-boomer pattern of returning to an earlier dream unclouded by the compromises of midlife."
We have a roster of famous second actors, from Jimmy Carter to Bill Gates. The transition is a lot easier for folks not worrying about 401(k)s and pharmacy bills. Nevertheless, many in what Ms. Kanter calls the "Al Gore population" approach their 60s with a different set of values ... and, it must be said, urgency.
I cannot forget one more second actor, Niki Tsongas, who became the newest member of Congress this week. At lunch last month, she talked of feeling rejuvenated, young at 61 as she started a new career. Just hours later, her younger sister unexpectedly died. The 60s come with sober reminders as well.
As a country, we are at the beginning of an enormous transition. Under the old compact, sixtysomethings were supposed to get out of the way and out of work. They were encouraged by financial incentives and prodded by discrimination. Now we are drawing blueprints for people who see themselves more as citizens than seniors.
"We used to say that the choices ran from A to B&B," says Ms. Kanter, author of "America the Principled." Today, she says, "we have an opportunity to define it as a time when your wisdom gets put to work on complex problems."
Demigod or demographic? Al Gore may not have invented the Internet, but the "Al Gore population" is reinventing this altogether new stage of life.
First published on October 19, 2007 at 12:00 am
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07292/826568-35.stm#
He may not have invented the Internet, but he and the rest of the baby boomers have invented a whole new stage of life
Friday, October 19, 2007
BOSTON - Until now, I believed that the smallest unit of time was between the moment the traffic light turned green and the car behind you honked. I was wrong. The shortest unit is actually between the moment you win the Nobel Peace Prize and someone asks if you're running for president.
-------------------------------------------------
Ellen Goodman is a syndicated columnist for The Boston Globe ([email protected]).
------------------------------------------------- -----
This is the story of Al Gore. It's wrapped succinctly in the Time magazine headline: "Gore Wins the Nobel. But Will He Run?" The best answer came from congenitally sardonic congressman, Rahm Emanuel: "Why would he run for president when he can be a demigod?"
Indeed, if the man who is free at last from politics has learned anything, it's that becoming a candidate means open season on his weight, his wit, his wisdom and his son's arrest record. Besides, which would you rather do, save the Earth or dial for dollars in Iowa? The attention on Al Gore's trajectory from loser to laureate misses something about this second act and second actor. As he approaches 60, Gore's staking out something of a new path for his generation.
Consider the new sixtysomethings. On Monday, 61-year-old Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, the first baby boomer and a retired teacher, signed up for early Social Security benefits. Next Friday, Hillary Clinton turns 60 and her second act is running for president. And when the new Harvard president, Drew Faust, 60, met with her Bryn Mawr classmates last summer? Many were talking about leaving their "extreme jobs" just as she was installed in hers.
Baby boomers are the first generation that can look forward to such a lengthy and (fingers crossed) healthy stage of later life. They are as likely to be talking about what they want to do next as about where they want to retire. Never mind all those declarations that 60 is the new 40. In fact, 60 is the new 60.
The stage of life called adolescence was only invented a century ago.
Today, says Rosabeth Kanter, Harvard Business School professor and a founder of the university's Advanced Leadership Initiative, "we have a chance to invent another stage of life that doesn't have a name yet." And Al Gore is its poster child, the model for what Marc Freedman calls the "encore career."
The head of Civic Ventures, a think tank promoting civic engagement as the second act for boomers, Mr. Freedman says, "Mr. Gore found himself by losing himself -- literally losing -- and being liberated from ambition, the idea that there's a particular ladder you have to scurry up and if you don't make it to the top it's all over. Essentially he found a different ladder."
Alas, Mr. Gore's "liberation" came with a little help from the Supreme Court. But he spent time in the wilderness -- bearded and academic, rested and restless -- before reconnecting with what he cared most about. It was there, all the time, in the huge satellite photograph of the Earth that hung on the wall of his office.
There's an inconvenient hole in "An Inconvenient Truth." Mr. Gore never confronts his failure to accomplish more on climate change while vice president. But elsewhere he has implied that he'll be better at "creating that sea change in mass opinion" to force this agenda from the outside.
This, says Mr. Freedman, "is the classic baby-boomer pattern of returning to an earlier dream unclouded by the compromises of midlife."
We have a roster of famous second actors, from Jimmy Carter to Bill Gates. The transition is a lot easier for folks not worrying about 401(k)s and pharmacy bills. Nevertheless, many in what Ms. Kanter calls the "Al Gore population" approach their 60s with a different set of values ... and, it must be said, urgency.
I cannot forget one more second actor, Niki Tsongas, who became the newest member of Congress this week. At lunch last month, she talked of feeling rejuvenated, young at 61 as she started a new career. Just hours later, her younger sister unexpectedly died. The 60s come with sober reminders as well.
As a country, we are at the beginning of an enormous transition. Under the old compact, sixtysomethings were supposed to get out of the way and out of work. They were encouraged by financial incentives and prodded by discrimination. Now we are drawing blueprints for people who see themselves more as citizens than seniors.
"We used to say that the choices ran from A to B&B," says Ms. Kanter, author of "America the Principled." Today, she says, "we have an opportunity to define it as a time when your wisdom gets put to work on complex problems."
Demigod or demographic? Al Gore may not have invented the Internet, but the "Al Gore population" is reinventing this altogether new stage of life.
First published on October 19, 2007 at 12:00 am
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07292/826568-35.stm#
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Shirleypal
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Dear Shirley,
Current, the media company I co-founded six years ago with my partner Joel Hyatt, just last week launched a new web site that integrates television and the Web in an unprecedented way. It provides, as never before, a platform for citizens to make the media their own.
One of the features I'm most excited about on Current.com is called Viewpoints. Viewpoints is a virtual town hall where you can share your opinions, in video, about the issues that matter in the 2008 election: from global warming to government eavesdropping, and many more.
This digital town hall is already bustling, and you can find viewpoints from me and from a lot of people, including the candidates running for President. Come and listen to their positions and, more importantly, tell them and the rest of the world what you think!
http://current.com/viewpoints
Since Viewpoints is the only place on the Web where you can easily share your view in video, my hope is that you'll take this opportunity to go toe-to-toe with the pundits on TV and help contribute to a new platform for public discourse. All it takes is a webcam and 60 seconds.
And, since we'll be taking the most popular and most compelling viewpoints and airing them on Current TV -- now available in 52 million homes around the world -- you may very well get your voice heard on our global TV network.
I look forward to seeing and hearing you on Current.com, as we deepen the discussion on these important topics:
http://current.com/viewpoints
Thank you,
Al Gore
Current, the media company I co-founded six years ago with my partner Joel Hyatt, just last week launched a new web site that integrates television and the Web in an unprecedented way. It provides, as never before, a platform for citizens to make the media their own.
One of the features I'm most excited about on Current.com is called Viewpoints. Viewpoints is a virtual town hall where you can share your opinions, in video, about the issues that matter in the 2008 election: from global warming to government eavesdropping, and many more.
This digital town hall is already bustling, and you can find viewpoints from me and from a lot of people, including the candidates running for President. Come and listen to their positions and, more importantly, tell them and the rest of the world what you think!
http://current.com/viewpoints
Since Viewpoints is the only place on the Web where you can easily share your view in video, my hope is that you'll take this opportunity to go toe-to-toe with the pundits on TV and help contribute to a new platform for public discourse. All it takes is a webcam and 60 seconds.
And, since we'll be taking the most popular and most compelling viewpoints and airing them on Current TV -- now available in 52 million homes around the world -- you may very well get your voice heard on our global TV network.
I look forward to seeing and hearing you on Current.com, as we deepen the discussion on these important topics:
http://current.com/viewpoints
Thank you,
Al Gore
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Shirleypal
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UN Issues "Final Wake-Up Call" on Population and Environment
By James Kanter
The International Herald Tribune
Thursday 25 October 2007
Paris - The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage to the environment that could pass points of no return, according to a major report being issued today by the United Nations.
Climate change, the rate of extinction of species, and the challenge of feeding a growing population are among the threats putting humanity at risk, according to the United Nations Environment Program in its fourth Global Environmental Outlook since 1997.
"The human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available at current consumption patterns," Achim Steiner, the executive director of the Environment Program, said in a telephone interview. Efficient use of resources and reducing waste now are "among the greatest challenges at the beginning in of 21st century," he said.
The program described its report, which is prepared by 388 experts and scientists, as the broadest and deepest of those the United Nations has issued on the environment and called it "the final wake-up call to the international community." Many biologists and climate scientists have concluded recently that human activities have become a dominant influence on the planet's climate and ecosystems. Underscoring the depth of those concerns was the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to former Vice President Al Gore and to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of scientists that the Environment Program helped found and helps finance. But there is still a range of views on whether the altering climate could result in a catastrophic depletion of natural resources as the human population heads toward 9 billion by mid-century, or more of a steady diminution in diversity.
Over the last two decades the world population has already increased by almost 34 percent, to 6.7 billion from 5 billion. But the land available to each person is shrinking, from 19.5 acres in 1900 to 5 acres by 2005, and is projected to drop to 4 acres by 2050, the report said.
Link
By James Kanter
The International Herald Tribune
Thursday 25 October 2007
Paris - The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage to the environment that could pass points of no return, according to a major report being issued today by the United Nations.
Climate change, the rate of extinction of species, and the challenge of feeding a growing population are among the threats putting humanity at risk, according to the United Nations Environment Program in its fourth Global Environmental Outlook since 1997.
"The human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available at current consumption patterns," Achim Steiner, the executive director of the Environment Program, said in a telephone interview. Efficient use of resources and reducing waste now are "among the greatest challenges at the beginning in of 21st century," he said.
The program described its report, which is prepared by 388 experts and scientists, as the broadest and deepest of those the United Nations has issued on the environment and called it "the final wake-up call to the international community." Many biologists and climate scientists have concluded recently that human activities have become a dominant influence on the planet's climate and ecosystems. Underscoring the depth of those concerns was the recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to former Vice President Al Gore and to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of scientists that the Environment Program helped found and helps finance. But there is still a range of views on whether the altering climate could result in a catastrophic depletion of natural resources as the human population heads toward 9 billion by mid-century, or more of a steady diminution in diversity.
Over the last two decades the world population has already increased by almost 34 percent, to 6.7 billion from 5 billion. But the land available to each person is shrinking, from 19.5 acres in 1900 to 5 acres by 2005, and is projected to drop to 4 acres by 2050, the report said.
Link
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Shirleypal
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Draft Gore Effort to Run TV Ads
Nov 1 04:41 PM US/Eastern
By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A national group seeking to draft Al Gore as a Democratic presidential candidate will begin airing a television ad on CNN and in New Hampshire promoting a petition drive to encourage the former vice president to run.
The 30-second spot by DraftGore.com will hit the airwaves Friday. Gore, who recently was a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has rebuffed efforts to persuade him to enter the contest.
The ad may not do much good in New Hampshire, where it is scheduled to run for three days. Friday is the deadline for candidates to file for a ballot position in the New Hampshire primary.
"I'm afraid we're very much aware of that," said DraftGore founder Monica Friedlander. She said the group needed to raise funds and was unable to get rights to certain Gore speeches, delaying the ad's production.
In the ad, an announcer says: "Imagine what tomorrow can be. Imagine a renewed world, an end to the war in Iraq. Imagine Al Gore as president ... Call him. Write him. Seize the moment"
The ad reminds viewers that Gore first opposed the war in Iraq in September 2002 and makes note of his share of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was announced last month.
"I believe our success in defending ourselves depends precisely on not giving up what we stand for," Gore says in a clip taken from a rally leading up to the 2000 convention.
DraftGore spent about $50,000 on the ads, which will run on CNN for five days and on station WMUR in Manchester, N.H., from Friday through Sunday.
Friedlander said that if Gore were to decide to run and files for primaries that come after New Hampshire, her group would try to mount a write-in campaign in New Hampshire.
Link
Nov 1 04:41 PM US/Eastern
By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A national group seeking to draft Al Gore as a Democratic presidential candidate will begin airing a television ad on CNN and in New Hampshire promoting a petition drive to encourage the former vice president to run.
The 30-second spot by DraftGore.com will hit the airwaves Friday. Gore, who recently was a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has rebuffed efforts to persuade him to enter the contest.
The ad may not do much good in New Hampshire, where it is scheduled to run for three days. Friday is the deadline for candidates to file for a ballot position in the New Hampshire primary.
"I'm afraid we're very much aware of that," said DraftGore founder Monica Friedlander. She said the group needed to raise funds and was unable to get rights to certain Gore speeches, delaying the ad's production.
In the ad, an announcer says: "Imagine what tomorrow can be. Imagine a renewed world, an end to the war in Iraq. Imagine Al Gore as president ... Call him. Write him. Seize the moment"
The ad reminds viewers that Gore first opposed the war in Iraq in September 2002 and makes note of his share of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was announced last month.
"I believe our success in defending ourselves depends precisely on not giving up what we stand for," Gore says in a clip taken from a rally leading up to the 2000 convention.
DraftGore spent about $50,000 on the ads, which will run on CNN for five days and on station WMUR in Manchester, N.H., from Friday through Sunday.
Friedlander said that if Gore were to decide to run and files for primaries that come after New Hampshire, her group would try to mount a write-in campaign in New Hampshire.
Link
Shirleypal wrote: "Imagine what tomorrow can be. Imagine a renewed world, an end to the war in Iraq. Imagine Al Gore as president ... Call him. Write him. Seize the moment"
Wow.
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." ~ Patrick Henry
Draft Gore Ad
Here is that haunting theme again, about the parallel world.
hmmmmmm.
from a comment on usa today
1h 33m ago [Nov 1, 2007 5:50 pm]
"I remember when I was in Guantanamo Bay they used to show movies at night for Soldiers. There was a Jet Lee [movie] which was a terrible movie, but there was one scene in which the main character had traveled to a parallel universe or something and Al Gore was giving the state of the union address on TV. Well, most of us who appreciate all Mr. Gore does now realize that we are actually living in a parallel universe where America has become the opposite of all it has ever stood for and the sinister forces of greed and militarism have taken hold.
We can only imagine what the US would be like with Al Gore as president. Sadly the chance for that has passed, and I'm afraid we are doomed to what we asked for. I have no doubt Al Gore could win if he could get the nomination, but why would he want to lower himself to the ugliness that a primary campaign would entail? I think he had enough in 2000 and is now on to things that really matter to him."
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/20 ... -take.html
hmmmmmm.
from a comment on usa today
1h 33m ago [Nov 1, 2007 5:50 pm]
"I remember when I was in Guantanamo Bay they used to show movies at night for Soldiers. There was a Jet Lee [movie] which was a terrible movie, but there was one scene in which the main character had traveled to a parallel universe or something and Al Gore was giving the state of the union address on TV. Well, most of us who appreciate all Mr. Gore does now realize that we are actually living in a parallel universe where America has become the opposite of all it has ever stood for and the sinister forces of greed and militarism have taken hold.
We can only imagine what the US would be like with Al Gore as president. Sadly the chance for that has passed, and I'm afraid we are doomed to what we asked for. I have no doubt Al Gore could win if he could get the nomination, but why would he want to lower himself to the ugliness that a primary campaign would entail? I think he had enough in 2000 and is now on to things that really matter to him."
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/20 ... -take.html
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