Al Gore: Presidential Candidate
The candidate I chose to do my paper
on was Al Gore. Al Gore is the current
Vice President of the United States.
He is for the Democratic party and is now
running for President for this
2000 election. I chose to do my paper on Vice
President Al Gore because I
believe that he will be the next president to be in office.
With his support
on certain issues and policies and also his experience, I know that
Al Gore
will be able to handle the presidency. I will discuss Al Gore’s brief history
and background, his qualifications, and where he stands on certain issues.
First lets look at Al Gore’s brief history. Al Gore was born on March 31,
1948
in Washington, DC. He is the son of former U.S. Senator Albert Gore,
Sr. and
Pauline LaFon Gore. Raised in Carthage, Tennessee, and in
Washington, D.C. His
mother, Pauline (La Fon) Gore, graduated from
Vanderbilt Law School. She was
one of the very first women to graduate from
that school. Both of Al Gore’s parents
played a major role in the
structuring of public personality and his political beliefs.
Al Gore’s
father, Albert Gore Sr. was born on a farm in Jackson County,
Tennessee, and
worked as a schoolteacher before entering public service—first as
Smith
County Superintendent of Schools, then as Tennessee's Secretary of Labor.
Albert Gore, Sr. was both a member of the House of Representatives and a
Senator
also. After years later in congress, he left the senate in 1970 and
later on worked as
being a lawyer and businessman. Al Gore’s father seemed
to be the driving force of
his career, his dad was his role model. Albert
Gore Sr. has just recently passed
away in 1998 at the age of 91. His son
gave him a well commemorated funeral, and
told the story of his life. He
died a good man.
Pauline LaFon Gore, the mother of Al Gore, grew up in
Weakley County, and
then later on Jackson, Tennessee. During the Great
Depression she worked her
way as a waitress, while attending college. She
later on went to Vanderbilt Law
School, working to be a lawyer. Later on as
her husband was entering the political
field, she helped him on his
campaigns. After her husband left the Senate, she
returned to being a lawyer
and was a mentor for young women considering legal
careers.
There are
other inspirations in Al Gore’s life other than his parents. Al Gore
is
married to Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson, also known as “Tipper.” They went to high
school together, and met each other at a dance during senior year. Like many
other
Presidents’ wives, Tipper was very much involved in politics. Ms Gore
is very much
well known for her role in the music industry, concerning the
labeling of music that
contains explicit content. She help put the explicit
lyrics warning label on music
CDs. The Gores have a total of four children:
Karenna, Kristin, Sarah, and Albert.
Al Gore is the person he is today
because of these people. Personality wise,
Al Gore has some strengths and
they are: smarts, instincts, credibility, world view,
and he has an image to
look upon. He is known for having a high IQ, although he
didn’t do so well
in harvard. He loves writing, and has written many books, including
a best
seller book called “Earth in the Balance.” Gore has developed good political
instincts over the 20 years of public service. For credibility, Gore does
not back
down from a challenge, he battled Ross Perot in a high staked
televised debate over
North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 and stood
by Bill Clinton during the
Monica Lewinsky Scandal. For world views, Gore
has plenty of hands on experience
for world affairs and he has been more
involved in foreign policy than past vice
presidents. For his image, Gore
has a reputation of being a solid, loyal family man.
With Al Gore’s
strength’s, he also has weaknesses. He lacks charisma,
stubborn at times,
has difficulty connecting to his audiences, and has said to have
perceptions
of stiffness and artificiality. For charisma, although polls give Gore good
marks as a caring, down to earth person, he really loses points when it
comes to
charm. Gore is not spontaneous, he lacks the energy. He is also
stubborn, he
usually wants it his way, and when he makes a decision he
rarely reverses himself.
Gore has always had the problem with connecting
with his audience. Sometimes he
loses their attention, because of the tone
he uses to speak. Lastly, people have said
that Gore follows the book, he is
stiff about things, and he might be artificial. He
lacks emotion and people
say he needs to relax more. Although Gore does have
some weaknesses, his
strengths are seen and noticed more then his weaknesses.
Al Gore and so do
other politicians have their standings on certain issues. I
will discuss a
few issues that Gore supports. The issues of abortion, environment,
and gun
control will be discussed.
Abortion has been a controversial issue from the
beginning. Gore still does
think that abortion as the taking of an innocent
human life. He believes that abortion
should be the decision of a woman, and
not government. He always defends a
woman’s right to choose. They should
also have the right to choose, regardless of
her economic circumstances. It
doesn’t seem that Gore opposes abortion nor does
he seek to make it an issue
the government has to handle.
Gore strongly supports the issue of
environment. He wants to invest in clean
air, water, land in a
“Environmental Decade.” Just recently, on June 2000, Gore
promoted a new
national Energy Security and Environment Trust Fund that would
provide tax
breaks and other financial incentives for businesses and families to
develop
new technologies that stimulate economic growth, create new jobs and
clean
up the nation’s air and water. Gore will also announce incentives for
consumers to purchase more energy efficient and more environmentally sound
products and incentives for cities to establish more efficient methods of
transportation. Gore’s fund will help clean up the nation’s environment by
offering
financial incentives.
The next issue is gun control. Gun
control has been a serious issue for
years. Gore believes that gun control
should be nationally mandated. He wants to
focus on gun safety, not hunters
and sportsmen. He wants to maximize gun control
within what’s politically
possible. Gore also believes that guns should be restricted if
they are in
the wrong hands. He supports the Brady Law, which will ban all assault
weapons. He tends to be very aggressive with this issue.
With these
issues stated, I agree with most of Gore’s viewpoints. I agree
with the
issues of abortion and the environment. With abortion I do agree that a life
shouldn’t be taken, but I also respect that it is the woman’s choice whether
or not to
have the abortion. This issue is not an easy matter at all, I
think that both candidates
will have some trouble with the issue. Now for
the issue of environment, I think that
this will be an issue that will be
seen in the future. It is good that Gore wants to
focus on the environment.
This is an important issue because it does affect
everyone. This place we
live and breathe in will not always be here, so we need to
preserve our
environment before it is too late.
In conclusion, from my point of view, I
think Al Gore will have the knowledge
and experience to gain presidency. He
has done a lot for this nation concerning
political issues. Gore’s personal
background fits him as a presidential candidate.
With the knowledge of
holding office from his father, and from himself, he is very
motivated to
become president. It seems like he does have the qualifications for the
job.
I have understood Gore’s strengths and weaknesses. They don’t seem to be
too
bad. His strengths are greater than his weaknesses. Gore’s policies and point
of view of the issue’s make him have a different stand between the other
candidates.
By doing the research, I know now of what candidate I’m going to
vote for on election
day. I am also quite certain that he will have the
upper hand in this coming election.
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