The Rise of the Hipster Statesman

I cannot believe how dependably shallow Daniel Drezner's thinking is. Gore was a "noble failure" as a politician?? What? Dan, was the 2000 election stolen or not? If it was, then take back "noble failure." If you think it wasn't, then, um, do you have a brain? Why are you even writing for Newsweek? Why don't you join the Army and live the practical implications of your snide, smug, establishment-boot-licking views.

"Daniel W. Drezner"...just one of the many bylines Charles Krauthammer (or is it William Kristol?) happens to be writing under these days.

hay a buzz da fole did,
u seamy two bee a reap purr of peeps
kent u jest reed ann bee quite

Mookee, I believe that you are the one who needs an "edukashun" with lines such as "Trying to ediucate these stewpid liberals is about as important as digging gravesites from all of them."

Number 1: How do you dig gravesites "FROM ALL OF THEM"?
Number 2: The word is spelled "EDUCATE" not "EDIUCATE"
Number 3: The word is spelled "STUPID" not "STEWPID"
Number 4: The correct word is "HIMSELF" not "HISSELF"

Ignorant fool. YOU are the WASTE. It's people like YOU that make this world such a cesspool.

Android is just a real android...a jerk.
He can't spell and does NOT have the common sense to come in from the rain.
Poeple like him never understand why the Al Gore's of the world actually make this a worse place ... not a better one. Trying to educate him is like trying to screw in Android's one last light BULB !
Which wil happen ABOUT when we see Donkey's flying over the moon.

Not only is your comment that as a politician he was a Nobel Failure sensational.... lest we forget that until some hang tags in Florida were discovered as a problem in Florida, he managed to win the 2000 Presidental Election

This irrelevant article was written by a true Hipster Journalist.

I find it amazing that the writer of this article does not see the full value of Gore bringing attention to such a tremendously important issue. And yes, Gore may not be able to pass the legislation needed to handle global warming, but he certainly has many ideas about the action needed to be taken. And he understands Washington just about as well as anyone. I don't know why we need writers such as this guy doing their best to try and stifle what shoukld be a bi-partisan issue. It's an important one, and I do believe this Drezner character must have an agenda of his own. Do something positive Daniel instead of beating up those who work for the better change. At least go change a lightbul or something.

Don't forget he WAS a significant 'father of the internet'. This country is still so in love with 'dumb and dumber' that it would rather poo-poo someone out of ignorance than appreciate the need for real intelligence and vision in real leaders. we don't need deciders of dumb decisions. we don't need debacalypses precipitated by values driven warmongers with no ethical maturity or real wisdom

I have news for you - hell on earth from global warming is already arriving. it arrives as larger hurricanes and storms and waves and wildfires and draughts. sound familiar? global warming has already cost this country billions this year. it is not a future possiblity, it is a current cost. the costs will get much higher year by year the longer we put off doing something - individually and together - about it. please join in

John's right. Gore has made his mark. It is up to the rest of "us" to do something. Unfortunately while "we" can easily appeciate the costs of fighting Global Warming, the benefits are more elusive, hence the problem that most analysts - pundits/bean counters have. Can we quantify that future generations will be saved hell on earth (check Venus). Probably not. As long as there are nasayers we can be comforted in our lack of action.

You, as a key media spokesperson, must be too close to see the obvious. If Gore does nothing else from now on, he has already done more than anyone else to sensitize the world to the threat to our worldwide ecosystem. It's done, and he did it. In doing this, he became the key target for all other pundits and pseudo-news opinion makers. Whatever happens now, he can rightfully claim he sent alarmed the planet.

Saying Gore was a "Noble Failure" as a politician is a sensational line, but a real misrepresentation. For me at least, Gore's crowning success was the "Reinventing Government" initiative that including cutting the Federal work force by 252,000 positions, cutting internal regulations in half, and requiring agencies to set customer service standards. It was a major reason why we reached the pre-Bush budget surplus.

Saying Gore was a "Noble Failure" as a politician is a sensational line, but a real misrepresentation. For me at least, Gore's crowning success was the "Reinventing Government" initiative that including cutting the Federal work force by 252,000 positions, cutting internal regulations in half, and requiring agencies to set customer service standards. It was a major reason why we reached the pre-Bush budget surplus.

How successful we judge Al Gore's efforts against Global Warming to be may depend on whether we measure success as the implementation of political legislation or the changing of minds on a massive scale; the two don't necessarily go together. For instance, the social acceptance of gays and lesbians is already a fait accompli in the larger urban centers in the U.S. despite the lack of right-to-marry
laws. This changing of attitudes was achieved through the statesmanship and social action of celebrities and grass-roots groups. Legislative success is the icing on the cake, but is not possible without the more difficult preliminary work of raising consciousness. In that sense, Al Gore's work as statesman may end up contributing far more to the Green movement than his tenure as politician.