President Gore?

I don't particularly like Larry King -- I think he's overrated as as interviewer. But maybe was "on" tonight. Or maybe his guest just seemed particularly impressive.

Al Gore, the former vice president, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Oscar-winning contributor, best-selling author and quite nearly the 44th president of the United States, was on King's show for a full hour tonight. He touched on just about everything in modern political life: advice for Obama, his service under Clinton, his take on Cheney and Palin (boy, was he polite), his unexpected focus on environmentalism, even his diet (yes, he eats red meat from time to time as matter of personal preference, he told a caller).

In the process, he reinforced my impression of him as a smart man, a sensible politician (except for his mismanagement of the 2000 presidential campaign) and a guy with a great sense of humor (as reflected in a sketch with Stephen Colbert).

It struck me at one point that had he won, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut would have been vice president, the proverbial heartbeat away from the presidency -- and that made me shudder. Old Joe can't seem to figure out if he's a D, an R or an I. The way he cozied up to McCain in '08 was sickening. And now he's being an obstructionist on health care reform. I think the Democrats ought to boot his butt out of the party. (Hey, a little bit of alliteration there...)

I saw Gore in person back in 1999 at the UNITY convention of minority journalists in Seattle. He was an impressive speaker, but then so was Bob Dole when I saw him in 1996 at a black journalists convention in Nashville. Watching these career politicians, you marvel at how easily they speak for 30, 40, 50 minutes without notes, without a pause, just moving from topic to topic. Is it wisdom disguised as verbosity? Knowledge masquerading as hot air?

Gore is coming to Portland on Nov. 18 for a lecture in conjunction with the release of his new book, "Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis." I won't be there, but I figure Blue Portland will pack the house.

It's too bad the Supreme Court ruled the way it did in 2000. Would have been nice to see how a President Gore would have done. How would he have reacted to the Sept. 11 attacks? Would he have invaded Afghanistan? Iraq? Would he have won a second term?