Al Gore is back at it again,
railing against Bush in speech given in Florida. Gore appears to want the
limelight again, and may very well be jockying for positions in the 2004 race. Of
course, he was practically an incumbent last time and still managed to screw it all
up. Against a President who is still ferocously popular, with an economy on the
upswing, and with redistricting and population movements helping the GOP, Gore
has an ice-cream cone’s chance in hell. The article ends with this note:
His speech came one day after a Gallup poll found that only
43 percent of Democrats thought he should run again, with 48 percent
preferring that he sit out the 2004 campaign. More than 80 percent of the poll’s
respondents also had said Gore should not criticize Bush.
Not as if that would stop him. Gore still wants to play the populist and pretend
that he’s some kind of crusader representing the plight of the poor and oppressed
against evil "special interests." The Democrats seem to be pushing
more towards the old-fashioned big government populism that worked so well
for Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, and Gore the first time. If trends continue
as they have, this is a strategy that should blow up in the Democrats’ face.
