October 11, 2007
As these words are written the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize has been chosen but not yet announced and for purposes of the future of America the great and inconvenient truth is that this does not matter.
America does not need another prize, we need another president.
My hope is that Al Gore is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He deserves it, and it would be a great moment for America and a great statement about the future of the earth.
But America does not need another prize, we need another president. “An Inconvenient Truth” was a brilliant, noble and historic undertaking, but if saving the planet from the ravages that threaten it is our purpose, in a journey of a hundred steps, the film took us one step, not 99.
The Assault on Reason will be viewed by historians as possibly the most sweeping and profound analysis of the troubles of our times, and the most brilliant manifesto of where an American president in the tradition of Roosevelt and Kennedy would lead this land we love.
But America does not need another brilliant book with a compelling program; America needs another president to make it happen.
The concert for the earth was a wonderful and important moment that brought to the attention of the planet the latent idealism and dreams of young people who want to inherit the wind of a better world, not merely the winds for another war, and a statement of generosity and conviction of stars who joined with kids on every continent of the earth.
But now, America does not need another concert, we need a new courage, a new conviction, and a new president to bring out the best of all of us, and make America a force that brings light to the world.
Is it unfair to ask: If the earth God gave us, that past generations endowed to us, that we hold in trust for future generations not yet born, is truly in danger and depends on decisions taken during the term of the next American president, are we not all obligated to bear any burden, share any sacrifice, endure any hardship, so our great-grandchildren will inherit a safe earth?
Is it unfair to ask: In a world where the last of the great generation that saved freedom from fascism are leaving us by the hour, in a nation where our best young are making all the sacrifice and giving all in a war far away from us, should not every political leader, at all levels, put aside personal and political convenience and ask what they can do for our country — and do it?
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was right: the presidency is the center of action, and God’s work on earth must truly be our own.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was right: We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and for the great matters of life and death for our country, we are all in this together.
The Democratic Party has the opportunity not to win an election to wield power, but to win a landslide that would bring a president and a Congress who stand for a politics of courage and idealism, who call again for
our country to dare to dream, and dare again to reach for greatness.
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