Bob Hebert

This is a long excerpt from Bob Hebert's June 5 op-ed in the New York Times, "The Passion of Al Gore". I'm including it here for those of you who don't or can't pay for New York Times Select; and because I think it needs to be read.

It's not that I wish we could go back (though it would be so nice, if all of this would just turn out to have been a long, collective nightmare). But I think it's important that we face how monumentally our poor choice of president affected the U.S. and the world, so that we will be more careful in the future. This should not be a popularity contest, but the presidency should go to the person with 1) the best ideas for the future of the country; and 2) the clearest policies. If a candidate is not able to clearly lay out what they think needs to be done, then maybe they don't need the most powerful job in the country.

Every time I come to Europe, I come face-to-face with the extent to which our economy is no longer competitive in the world market. Add to that the lack of respect many have for our Administration, and it is ugly. We need credibility to return to the White House and to our country.

Here is a portion of what Hebert wrote about Gore:

He’s pushing his book “The Assault on Reason.” I find myself speculating on what might have been if the man who got the most votes in 2000 had actually become president. It’s like imagining an alternate universe. The war in Iraq would never have occurred. Support and respect for the U.S. around the globe would not have plummeted to levels that are both embarrassing and dangerous. The surpluses of the Clinton years would not have been squandered like casino chips in the hands of a compulsive gambler on a monumental losing streak.

Mr. Gore takes a blowtorch to the Bush administration in his book. He argues that the free and open democratic processes that have made the United States such a special place have been undermined by the administration’s cynicism and excessive secrecy, and by its shameless and relentless exploitation of the public’s fear of terror.

The Bush crowd, he said, has jettisoned logic, reason and reflective thought in favor of wishful thinking in the service of an extreme political ideology. It has turned its back on reality, with tragic results.