Still looking to the Gore-acle

With the buzz about Al Gore leading up to the Nobel event coming up at the end of October, and all the Gore speculation (he's going on a Western States tour this fall).. I couldn't help but get misty-eyed for what could have been.

Here's a taste from the National Archives of what we had coming our way if Gore had been inaugurated instead of that guy who lost the 2000 presidential election:

Public debt is on track to be $2.4 trillion lower in 2000 than was projected in 1993. Debt reduction brings real benefits for the American people -- a family in South Dakota with a home mortgage of $100,000 might expect to save roughly $2,000 per year in mortgage payments. Reduced debt also means lower interest rates and reduced payments on car loans and student loans.

We know where that has been going. Ask anyone who has had to refinance recently.

Instead of a President whose answer for everything from the mortgage crisis to Katrina-caused financial crises is another tax cut, borrowing from our children and grandchildren. President Gore would have (and just may yet) offer real answers instead of more tax cuts for the wealthy.

It was Gore that brought us Reinventing Government. He brought me a government charge card (I'm a Fed employee) so I can buy a briefcase at Office Max instead of paying five times as much from GSA, plus an expensive paperwork load. In contrast, the Bush Administration has been a huge step back, as government has been used as a political tool instead of powerful force for the benefit of the American people. These days we're happier the LESS attention our agency gets from the White House. Gore would have supported Federal scientists and even read their stuff to inform HIMSELF. If you doubt how hard it is to stay clear of political meddling for scientists in the government these days, just take a look at the PEER website. Many of us besides me are counting the days until this is over.

If Gore were President, don't you think that we'd at least have a 9-11 memorial by NOW. He would not have let that drop off the plate.

Whatever Gore does this fall, I'm behind him 100 percent. And other South Dakotans should be too, since his values are more in line with ours: prudence, sensible solutions, and yes, respect for people that actually know what they are talking about.