I just read this book (in July 2007) because I liked Gore as a possible
candidate and was convinced he will run in 2008.
At least 85% of the book is spent blasting George W. Bush, who is
guaranteed to leave the stage in a year and a half. The topic really
wasn't worth that much time. And Gore totally fails to ask a basic
question: It was obvious by 2004 that Bush was an appalling president,
but he was still able to win a majority of the popular vote. I feel
that this is a sign that many Americans are profoundly disillusioned
with many things about liberalism, and how does Gore recommend that the
Democrats change to appeal to them more?
Gore is very concerned about the fact that the average American
watches 4.5 hours of TV every day and is, as a consequence, frankly
stupid. Also, American politics are dominated by the need of
politicians to raise contributions, which are mostly spent on thirty
second TV commercials. You can't have an intelligent dialog in randomly
ordered, often repetitive, 30 second installments.
At the end of the book, he expresses hope in the internet. Nearly
everyone has access to the web at this point, the transmission of
information is cheaper than it's ever been. I would like to rave on
about my expectations of the possibilities this offers, but I would
just be expressing my own ideas, rather than talking about the book,
which is much less enthusiastic and hopeful.
Gore spends too much time complaining about the status quo, but
very, very little time talking about ways to improve it. He really
fails to inspire. Perhaps he is just saying he really is quitting
politics as a defeated man.
I would not recommend giving this book to a conservative that you
want to turn into a liberal. It is too humorless. He spends most of the
book blasting George W. Bush, which didn't offend me, but the
seriousness and negativity got pretty tiring after awhile. If I were in
disagreement I don't think I would have been able to get through it. If
you want to convert a conservative I recommend Al Franken's "The Truth
(with jokes)", which blasts Bush and is at least entertaining and funny
doing it.
