Q&A: Ed Begley Jr., on Al Gore and the power of reality TV | Newsweek Environment

The Mutiny on the Left
Raina Kelley 9/24/2009 12:00:00 AM
Anybody remember the 2000 election? Al Gore won the popular vote, but lost the election to George W. Bush after the Supreme Court's decision to stop the recount in Florida with Bush ahead by a mere 537 votes. But what people may not remember (or may want to forget) are the 97,488 votes that went to third-party candidate Ralph Nader in Florida. If less than 1 percent of those votes had gone to Gore, there would have been no need for those Bush countdown clocks, Bill Maher would still be on ABC, and who knows who would be president now—but I bet not Barack Obama. Now, I know there is quite a bit of controversy over whether Nader actually lost the race for Gore (who also lost his home state of Tennessee and tight races in other states), but it's fair to say that Nader was a significant factor in Bush's victory. I remember my liberal friends were planning to vote for Nader with the rejoinder, "There's no real difference betweens Dems and Repubs. They're all part of the same rotten system. I'm going to vote for a real progressive who breaks the hegemony of the two-party system." Back then, liberals at the far end of the political spectrum were feeling stung by Clintonian compromises—"don't ask, don't tell" and welfare reform come to mind—and were disgusted by his personal foibles. Gore, they thought, would just be more of the same and really no better than Bush. A third way, Nader, seemed like the best idea at the time. Of course, it didn't really work out that way. Rather than "teaching our democracy a lesson," the third way contributed to Bush's eight-year sojourn in the White House. And, from the perspective of liberals (and most other people if approval numbers are to be trusted), Bush was one of the worst presidents we've ever had. From logging and drilling in national parks to limiting stem-cell research and botching Katrina, the Bush years were a nightmare for progessives. And that's not even counting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or Guantánamo or "freedom fries." Meanwhile, Al Gore rebounded with An Inconvenient Truth, and was not only anointed a saint and honored with a Nobel, but even begged by those old Nader voters to lead the Democratic ticket in 2008. How's that for irony?
FACTCHECK.ORG
A Clean Coal Confrontation
Viveca Novak 1/23/2009 12:00:00 AM
The coal lobby's most recent issue ad reminds viewers that the new president has voiced strong support for its side. It features a clip of then-candidate Barack Obama speaking last year, saying "clean coal" is an attainable goal that can create jobs and help the environment:
COVER STORY: THE GLOBAL ELITE
The Story of Power
Jon Meacham 12/20/2008 12:00:00 AM
Barack Obama has a good Al Gore story. Sometime after the 2000 election, Obama called on a corporate executive in a big office with a terrific view of midtown Manhattan. The businessman had been an ardent Gore supporter, and the former vice president had recently asked him to consider investing in a startup television venture. "It was strange," the executive told Obama. "Here he was, a former vice president, a man who had just a few months earlier been on the verge of being the most powerful man on the planet. During the campaign, I would take his calls any time of day, would rearrange my schedule whenever he wanted to meet. But suddenly, after the election, when he walked in, I couldn't help feeling that the meeting was a chore. I hate to admit it, because I really like the guy. But at some level he wasn't Al Gore, former vice president. He was just one of the hundred guys a day who are coming to me looking for money. It made me realize what a big steep cliff you guys are on." Obama, recounting the anecdote in "The Audacity of Hope," notes: "A big steep cliff, the precipitous fall." And, in Gore's case, the climb back up the cliff, to a Nobel Peace Prize and global eminence. Obama, who is now arguably the most powerful man in the world, understands that power is a fluid thing, and has been since the first caveman threw a rock at another caveman. (Story continued below...)
LETTERS
The Bible and Gay Marriage
12/13/2008 12:00:00 AM
In a matter of days, more than 40,000 readers responded to our Dec. 15 cover story, "The Religious Case for Gay Marriage." The vast majority stemmed from a letter-writing campaign encouraged by the American Family Association, which took issue with the piece. Below, a sample of the responses from both sides.
THE FUTURE OF ENERGY
Don’t Count On Magic
Fareed Zakaria 11/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
Former Vice President Al Gore—now a Nobel Prize winner and the world's most prominent environmentalist—isn't looking for another job in Washington. But his eloquent warnings about the dangers of global climate change have obviously helped shape the priorities of the incoming Obama administration. Gore sat down with NEWSWEEK's Fareed Zakaria recently to talk about a bailout for Detroit, the greening of China and the elusive promise of "clean coal." Excerpts:
ENVIRONMENT
Going Green
Jerry Adler