Al Gore Lives on My Street

The New Yorker published a very moving profile of Al Gore by David Remnick in the Sept. 13 issue. Gore comes off as not so tortured as you might think, though clearly the mantle of Man Who Would Be President weighs on him. It weighs on me too. I know the rest of the blogworld is focusing on what to do to get Bush out, but this is a brief look back over our shoulder at what might have been.

The sweetest (maybe bittersweetest) part of a bittersweet profile is the song that Gore's neighbor, Bob Orral, wrote about him. Listen to the song; here are the lyrics:


Al Gore lives on my street,
Three-twenty-something, Lynwood Boulevard.
And, he doesn’t know me
but I voted for him. Yeah, I punched the card!
I don’t know how he lives with knowing,
That even though he won the popular vote
He still lives on my street, right down the street
From me.

One time, I had a bike
And I was a kid, and someone stole it from me
And still I’m mad about that,
Carrying anger, I just can’t let it be.
I need to be more forgiving, I know it,
’Cause even with the popular vote,
Al Gore lives on my street, right down the street,
From me.

Life isn’t fair, don’t tell me, I know it
’Cause even with the popular vote,
Al Gore lives on my street, right down the street from me [repeats]
President Gore lives on my street, right down the street from me.


Sigh.