In case you missed Bob Herbert's excellent column on "The Passion of Gore", which isn't hard since it's stuck behind the NY Times' firewall, you can read it here. Herbert asked the question that I have been asking (though not to the future President himself) for the last 6 months:

So where does that leave Mr. Gore? If the republic is in such deep trouble and the former vice president knows what to do about it, why doesn’t he have an obligation to run for president? I asked him if he didn’t owe that to his fellow citizens.

If the country needs you, how can you not answer the call?

He seemed taken aback. “Well, I respect the logic behind that question,” he said. “I also am under no illusion that there is any position that even approaches that of president in terms of an inherent ability to affect the course of events.”

There is no other candidate that can come close to providing the leadership we need to address the many looming threats we face as a nation and as a species. I know politics can be, to put it mildly, a ginormous pain in the ass, but with so much at stake, isn't it worth a sore tush to change the course of our nation, Mr. Vice President?