Al Gore Rising

By: Bernie Quigley
Published On: 5/28/2007 7:56:18 AM

- cross posted at Daily Kos on 5/27/07

"They come in twos. But which is the Emperor? Which is the Sith?" - Star Wars tradition

We are reaching the end of things now . . . best for Congress to hold quiet. The culture is about to flip. And when that happens everything gets different. The poles reverse their electrical pull. The Emperor becomes the Sith, the Sith the Emperor.

I've seen it flip before. Practically in my high school football field in Newport, RI. From Eisenhower Optimism & the Positive Face. Then a little known and undernourished Magical Animal came out of the borderland forest and lake lands of Minnesota. It is said in hindsight that the Sixties started in a minute, when Bob Dylan switched from a wooden guitar to an electric one in Newport, in the summer of '65. Then everything was different.

And now it is flipping again. In September it will flip.
History has its gatekeepers. They open doors and they also close doors. Ronald Reagan was a gatekeeper to the third post-war generation of culture and politics, now in the last 15 minutes of its 11th hour.

George Bush the Little is gatekeeper too. Since he first arrived in national politics it was clear that his fate would be to close the gate that Ronald Reagan opened.

`Twas ever thus. William Strauss & Neil Howe's remarkable perspective of post-war politics draws on Spengler and on Carl Jung: History runs in cycles and follows archetypal paths, the one compensating and balancing the other. History's picture is generational, each generation with its own Monkey Gods and goddesses, heroes and siths. Replaced then every 20 years with countervailing gods and siths. Toynbee read Spengler and Jung half way through his history of the world: Yin becomes Yang, he wrote. The Sith becomes the Emperor, the Emperor, the Sith.

Boy George's fate, since the day he was born, was to crash. It showed from the beginning. He was chosen by his father's friends to oppose his own generation and he had the tendency from the beginning. He was always unstable; an alcoholic who transferred his obsession direct to religious fanaticism in the classic pattern. Other issues: He has no friends his own age; he is an introvert without the introvert's path - poet, artist, preacher - and was driven instead to govern by his family, tempermentally ill-suited for the task. But this is characteristic of the cycle's natural path to failure. And all must fail in history but the last standing: Washington, Grant, Eisenhower, the final figures in the previous three "saecula" of Strauss & Howe. Worth pointing out that all were Generals.

We are at the end, but only at the end of the middle: It is the deep gulf between historical big changings in the world - a gulf of mischief and incontinence, illusions and imitations of life, false premises and sociological vanities and follies - history's forgotten realms.
This end is the beginning.

The Strauss & Howe books, particularly "The Fourth Turning," are easier to understand than the Vedic wanderings of Spengler, Jung and Toynbee. And as far as I understand it, they follow the path with some accuracy: History comes from its own nature and the seeds of the third generation are sown in the first. The seeds of the fourth generation are sown in the second. In between, the avatar which will rise later lives in shadow. (Like the "Sleeping King" in the Tolkien stories.)

John McCain is exemplar of the third generation, taking his inspiration from the first and finding his "Fathers" in first generation - the WW II warriors. But it is a feeling thing, don't you know. The third generation warrior wants to be like the first: He wants to live again the culture of valor because it is good and true. But first generation didn't get to valor from book, movies, and memories of blood relatives. It came to them instead direct from necessity and the survival instinct.

The second generation sleeps as the third rises or sends forth it's sith and its shadow side. It is time for it to rise now and it will rise with this picture: Earthrise. Earthrise is the picture taken from space of the earth rising in the distance with the moon as ground in the foreground. It is time for this to awaken.

The picture was taken in 1968 from the dark side of the moon. Mythologist Joseph Campbell said at the time that this image would change us. It would change the way we would see ourselves, much as the discovery that the world was round changed the way we were centuries ago. The Al Gore movie, "An Inconvenient Truth" opens with this image and the fourth generation will also open with this image and this movie.

It was 90 degrees thereabouts yesterday here in the northern mountains of New Hampshire. Our third day of North Carolina weather so far this year. In 1968 we'd have a day, maybe two or three of these between late July and early August, but none earlier or later.

The new generation will awaken now with the awareness that we and the planet are in danger.

And Al Gore opened the gate.

Of all people my age who think of being President, Gore generates both general interest and generational cache with Millennials - fourth generation types. On DKos polls where 60-year-old Democratic Leadership Council probe droids rate only three to six percent, Al Gore jumps to 65% and higher. On Larry King last week when the audience was asked how many thought Gore should run, 82% said run.

They come in doubles - the Emperor and the Sith are one. But which is which? We see this everywhere: The Beatles/Rolling Stones, Woodward/Bernstein, Emerson/Thoreau, The Bronte Sisters Light and Dark, Bill Clinton/Al Gore. When the one rises to its fate, the other submerges. Then the culture flips.

It is flipping now. There goes Bob Woodward, here comes Carl Bernstein. There goes Billary, here comes Al Gore. The Republicans seem to understand that it is all over for their ride by September. But it is the Democrats who lag. They were right from the start with Wesley Clark on Iraq/Iran but selected otherwise. To their detriment.

As well, the Democrats these recent years have largely supported Bush/Cheney on Iraq, from the beginning a kind of third generation fantasy play created in Dungeons & Dragons warriors who have never worn the uniform of their country nor fired a shot in anger. It was to the Democrats an occasion to "act strong." In that it was indeed the true test of leadership and the Democrats failed on this issue of authenticity. As the Lion King said to his cub: "I'm only brave when I need to be brace." Indeed. Otherwise it is dress up and play theater, the fate of draft dodgers and cowards as they grow increasingly older.

The war in Iraq and the Bush/Cheney quagmire is now second cause in the world. Environmental disaster is imminent. And if no one else will lead, Arnold Schwarzenegger will.

This week, with Jodi Rell, Governor of Connecticut, the Governator has all but threatened secession if the feds don't take action. Yet the feds refuse. Texas, threatened most by desertification, remains in denial. But California's southern places will be turned to sand as well if action is not taken. Arnold appears to be building his own alliances of blue states, Canada and Europe in opposition to the tradition since 1865. And New England is joining.

Both Wesley Clark and Al Gore have been insinuating Mario Cuomo style "hovering" strategies this past year in the run up to '08. They have both been critical of the early primaries and the consultants, cash and press hype which have turned our honored tradition into political novelty of trash TV like American Idol. They are not actually running, but haven't said they won't enter. For Al Gore it is working, but without greater secondary publicity, General Clark's numbers are low.

There are two great problems for the U.S. in the world today that need to be solved. Environmental destruction is one. The Iraq/Iran disaster which has destroyed U.S. legitimacy in the world is the other. Al Gore brings Best Practices on the environment. Wesley Clark brings Best Practice solutions to Iran/Iraq.

This is an Al Gore/Wes Clark diary rather than a Wes Clark/Al Gore diary because it is hot today in New Hampshire and it is getting hotter. The climate crisis now supersedes the Iraq disaster.

Al Gore leads the charge.


Comments



Ignore them at our peril (vadem - 5/28/2007 9:16:56 AM)
Good diary, Bernie. There's no doubt that Gore is well respected for his efforts, expertise and what he has been doing to raise awareness of the destruction of the evironment to a very high level.  What absolutely flabbergasts me is the lack of awareness that readers of RK have for Wes Clark and what he brings to the table in addressing the enormity of the disintegration of the Middle East. Just as Bernie has pointed out, he is to the solution in the middle east, including Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan/Palestine and all the countries that are deeply involved, as Al Gore is to the enviroment and whether we can turn that catastrophe around.

The Democrats can continue to focus on the current dog and pony show--the American Idol RockStar-o-rama of 2008--or we can get serious and decide we want some problems solved.  REAL problems that will destroy us all.  Solutions won't come easy, cheap or fast. They can't be delivered in sound bites.  But both of these men know what they are talking about and can (and have been) offer real solutions.  We can only hope that they decide to run for office.



Major Clarkies Moving To Gore? (Dave Montoya - 5/28/2007 10:09:06 AM)
That's what it looks like. I think Gore can unite the party, and he can win. He already has won, and this time he has far MORE political capital than he did in 2000.

I am pretty much in the Gore camp right now. I think the man is a rockstar, should he not run.. my vote goes to Obama.

But no one say he isn't! Don't rain on my parade, Mr. Gore is running because this country demands him too!

And he knows it.



Moving to Gore? (vadem - 5/28/2007 11:31:15 AM)
What "major Clarkies" are moving to Gore?  I know some who apparently don't believe he'll run, so they jumped on another current bandwagon, but the core remains behind Clark until he says he's not running.  And, as recently as Friday in Lexington, he isn't saying that.


I'm all for Gore/Clark 2008 (Lowell - 5/28/2007 11:38:32 AM)
Of course, I count as more of a "very minor Clarkie" than a major one... :)


Staying with Clark! (Florence - 5/28/2007 3:24:20 PM)
I agree with vadem.  I and many other Clarkies are planning to support Wes Clark for President in 2008 if he runs and are not considering supporting other Presidential candidates as long as there is a chance Clark will run.  It is worth waiting for his decision, since he would make a great President, partly because he has the best Foreign Policy, National Security, and Military experience of anyone considering running in either Party.  (A few former Clarkies have told me they became tired of waiting and have gone to other campaigns but not many.)


Change of season. (Bernie Quigley - 5/28/2007 10:39:12 AM)
Gore has the popular support as a moral and determined citizen to change the political season. The country needs Wes Clark to restore moral fiber and integrity. Right now I don't think the country as a whole is ready for Wes. Too much accomodation, expediency and decadence for way too long. We need to rise to get to Wes and we will.


. . . and (Bernie Quigley - 5/28/2007 11:57:05 AM)
if Gore would enter in the Fall, it would open the competition to other First Tier candidates; Wes Clark, Mark Warner.


It might open up the process (Teddy - 5/28/2007 12:11:42 PM)
provided it has not gone so far as to be pre-decided. Obviously the repubs worry about Gore--- notice the snarky reviews of his book, the continued emphasis on his big ego, his show-off pedantry (sneer, sneer).  I do notice, though, that they have laid off poking fun at how chunky and fat he's become now that the world has heard how much pig lard Saint Jerry Falwell had acquired.


Clark's horses at the starting gate--snorting and huffing (Tricia4star - 5/28/2007 12:35:01 PM)
I like Gore. I like Clark.  A Clark/Gore ticket makes the most sense because the general cuold deal with the "decider" problems (especially the war and foreign relations) and Gore could do what he does best--saving the planet from itself.  Great couple!

BUT, BERNIE....Clark's huge numbers are in the wings.  You just can't see them yet.  Check out www.fourstardemcrats.com.  Horses at the starting gate, snorting and huffing!!!!!



What I'm worried about... (Lowell - 5/28/2007 12:36:55 PM)
is that the rest of the horses are already halfway around the track. :)


Bets have been placed (vadem - 5/28/2007 1:20:15 PM)
With the three who jumped out fast.  Money flowing like wine, but no one has broken out of the pack.  The only ones paying attention are people like us--general electorate only hears Hillaryblahblahblah, Edwardsblahblahbla, Obamablahblahblah.  What about the darkhorse, yet to come? 


Those who have been running the longest (jasmint53 - 5/28/2007 1:31:06 PM)
have the greatest chance of running out of gas and collapsing just as the new wave is getting started. Americans have short attention spans, and they'll soon be tired of the dated merchandise that has been sitting on the market forever and losing its luster.


Small World (Tony Mastalski - 5/28/2007 11:32:14 PM)
As I've followed RK over the last year and a half and I've noted Bernie Quigley's insightful postings and editorials here and elsewhere ... it's really strange for me to read about Freebody Park (now John Toppa Field) where I played football for Roger's High in Newport, R.I. Of course not knowing anything else about Bernie, he could have gone to the Catholic School "De Lasalle" on Bellevue Ave, which closed down in the early 70's after Dylan went electric.

Looking back 40 years (yikes) the biggest bummer came while I was still playing little league baseball. The town would close down ball play for 2 weeks as Hippies camped out in the outfield, hanging around town hoping to catch some free jams.  Too bad they rioted for beer after Led Zepplin (or maybe it was the Alman Brothers) played ... and the jazz / folk festival was banned for a decade or so .... banished to New York.

What is still apparent is how scattered brained the democratic party remains. It longs for leadership which is NOT POLARIZING or divisive but can't make up it's mind as whom best it should choose to lead the band. Wes Clark would be an asset to anybody, front runners or not. At the end of the day what the Democrats need is a clear theme and a passionate front man (or woman) delivering that theme. Something compelling and uniting .... Al Gore's been very good of late  .... he has articulated the problem very well (and it isn't his global warming campaign I'm refering to).... but he doesn't have the charisma which Obama projects.

The election cycle is way out of wack ... and yes there's a lot of Blah, blah, blah going on .... but you're right Lowell the horse race has begun and Al Gore is a REAL long shot by any measure.

Enjoyed Bernie's piece, however strange to be thinking of Freebody park.



De La Salle (Bernie Quigley - 5/29/2007 6:30:20 AM)
Tony - I did go to De La Salle. I understand they have turned it into condominiums now. It was a remarkable moment to enter the Newport Folk Festival in '64 thereabouts. We went to see Johnny Cash not knowing who Bob Dylan was at one point. Then Joan Baez came out on the stage and said Johnny got drunk and was in jail or something but her friend Bob Dylan had agreed to sing in his place. Two men carried him up to the stage, one on each arm, and leaned him against a speaker and they sang together one of those early broken-hearted ballads. Nothing was the same after that.


Dylan at Newport (Bernie Quigley - 5/29/2007 6:44:16 AM)
Through the wonders of You Tube this fairly astonishing historical moment in available. Here is Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in '65 (top frame) singing "It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." It is a great example of the Monkey God as a generational figure; the first lower deity who awakens the others. In The Beatles "Chronicles" they say hearing Dylan changed their lives. Prior to that it was teen love songs, then they desired to be artists. So it changed us at De La Salle then it changed The Beatles, then it changed the generation. And the process took only about two years. But generations always fork: the one part advances the new thunder gods but creates within itself an equal and opposite counter-force which commits to defending the Old Temple. George Bush comments that he split with his generation when The Beatles "got into that psychedelic thing."
http://www.youtube.c...


Gore/Clark (libra - 5/29/2007 1:01:30 AM)
Would be my dream ticket. But... too many of my dreams have been shattered in the past 6+ yrs to pin any hopes on it.


I would like a Gore/Obama Gore/Clinton ticket... (doctormatt06 - 5/29/2007 1:27:08 AM)
I think with Gore in charge we would have a good leader who would definitely win us an 8 year term in the White House, and then I think Obama or Clinton would be comfortable with being Liberal in the Gore Whitehouse and would have more experience come time in 2016. 


Clark IS DOA (Flipper - 5/29/2007 7:33:01 AM)
A snowball has a better chance of surviving in hell than Clark has at winning the nomination.  He won one primary 4 years ago - in OKLAHOMA for crying out loud!!  And he is making the same mistake again - by staying out of the race way too long.  Clark does not have the standing within the party like an Al Gore does, to be able to jump into the race this November and win the nomination. 

And he's not doing the hard work the other candidates are doing i.e., raising money, setting up field offices, hiring staff, putting out position papers, putting a filed organization together.  Why would I reward him with my vote and give him the nomination - when he has done none of the leg work required to run and win a general election campaign? Candidates need to prove they can raise the money, put a propfessionla staff together and put an organization together that can win a general election - Clark's done none of this.

The whole idea of him winning the nomination is pure fantasy; actually, the whole idea of him actually getting into the race is pure fantasy art this point.  And to be frank, if he's not going to run, he needs to say so.  It's very selfish of him to string you guys along like this.  I know you are very devoted to him, all the more reason he should play it straight with you guys. 



Clark works plenty hard (vadem - 5/29/2007 10:23:13 PM)
You may have been oblivious, but all last year, and particularly from summer on through the fall, Clark did more traveling in support of Democrats running in 06 than any other candidate.  He supported state parties, raised money and awareness, made on-site visits for candidates-some who didn't invite any other Democrat to campaign for them in their states (like Jon Tester).  Clark knew the value of changing leadership in at least one of the houses, and he put his money and his time where he knew it would help to make a difference.  He also had a very large contingent of supporters who did the same.  I and many, many others gave money to candidates all over this country because he endorsed them.  Did you?  Those same supporters gave plenty of money to Jim Webb, spent countless hours blogging and writing letters to the editor and making calls for Webb, for Sestak, for Kristin Gilbrand, for Patrick Murphy...the list is very long.  Wes Clark is still a major, MAJOR advisor to members of the Democratic majority on issues of foreign policy, military strategy, and global issues.  For you to say that "he's not doing the hard work" shows just how little you know.  It's because of this hard work and the value of it that he has not taken the step to become a candidate yet.  He knows as soon as he does that, his expertise and speaking out about our problems will become nothing more than campaign fodder.  The thing that makes Wes Clark so honorable and why he continues to have a large national following is that we know he'll do the right thing and say the right thing for this country, and not for political expediency.  That's something they teach at West Point.  Duty, honor, country. 

As for "only" winning Oklahoma in the primaries, he also came in ahead of Edwards in New Mexico, Arizona, North Dakota and New Hampshire, for the brief time he was in the race. Edwards "only" won NC and SC, while Dean "only" won VT and DC. 

Clark doesn't keep his supporters on a string. He doesn't strong arm anyone, or promise them the moon if they stay. They are there because they want to be and because they know they stand behind the most honorable and capable person out there.  You're damn right we're devoted and for good reason.  If it isn't bothering any of us, why should it be a problem for you?