- Apr 1, 2011
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Al Gore conspicuously absent at Democratic National Convention - Tampa Bay Times
CHARLOTTE, N.C. In 2008, Al Gore strode onto the stage at Denver's Invesco Field to a hero's welcome, throwing his support behind Barack Obama to take on the "global climate crisis."
When Obama takes the stage this week, Gore will be nowhere in sight.
He isn't coming to the Democratic National Convention but is spending the week in New York City, anchoring coverage of the event for his network Current TV.
[SNIP]
While many Democrats in Charlotte were reluctant to talk about Gore for attribution, some said Gore's diminished profile and the environmental movement's more broadly is rooted in the mood of a country preoccupied with questions about the economy and jobs.
"Al Gore has proven incapable of developing policies that have broad political appeal, and the party is looking to others," said Paul Bledsoe, who was communications director for the White House Climate Change Task Force under President Bill Clinton and is now a senior adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Carl Pope, who served as the executive director of the Sierra Club for almost 20 years, also sees the shift...
"Like all of us, I think, Gore is in the process of testing and figuring out what the best pathway forward is," Pope said. "He sees that the public arena is at the moment more critical than the political arena."
CHARLOTTE, N.C. In 2008, Al Gore strode onto the stage at Denver's Invesco Field to a hero's welcome, throwing his support behind Barack Obama to take on the "global climate crisis."
When Obama takes the stage this week, Gore will be nowhere in sight.
He isn't coming to the Democratic National Convention but is spending the week in New York City, anchoring coverage of the event for his network Current TV.
[SNIP]
While many Democrats in Charlotte were reluctant to talk about Gore for attribution, some said Gore's diminished profile and the environmental movement's more broadly is rooted in the mood of a country preoccupied with questions about the economy and jobs.
"Al Gore has proven incapable of developing policies that have broad political appeal, and the party is looking to others," said Paul Bledsoe, who was communications director for the White House Climate Change Task Force under President Bill Clinton and is now a senior adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Carl Pope, who served as the executive director of the Sierra Club for almost 20 years, also sees the shift...
"Like all of us, I think, Gore is in the process of testing and figuring out what the best pathway forward is," Pope said. "He sees that the public arena is at the moment more critical than the political arena."
