I want to quickly weigh in against my esteemed boss Bob Kuttner on the whole Gore-as-veep idea: BK asks, "What better post to be sustainability czar than vice president?" I'd reply that there would be no worse post for a sustainability czar than vice president. If you're serious about global warming, the last thing you want to do is shackle the highest profile climate action advocate beneath political realities and, for that matter, the greater glory and success of Barack Obama. As VP, Gore's primary concern will have to be the fortunes of his boss, the president. His secondary concern, inevitably, will be his own chances to eventually succeed Obama as president. That's rather different than the current situation, when Gore's primary concern is global warming, and he can leverage the full force of his national profile and moral authority to raise hundreds of millions for game-changing advocacy campaigns and hold out the continued threat of attracting A1 newspaper coverage by attacking an insufficiently concerned Democratic president from the left. Sometimes, the most effective way to quiet an activist is to give him just enough power to be invested, but not enough power to force change. My hope -- and hunch -- is that Gore knows that.
