Investor's Business Daily, May 2nd, 2007
Foreign Affairs: Does Al Gore have nothing better to do than butt into other countries' politics? In his grand bid to save the planet, he's damaging real nations and undercutting U.S. ties. He's worse than the Ugly American.
Gore flew over to Canada last week and loudly blasted the Canadian government for its rejection of the Kyoto Treaty as "a complete and total fraud."
Speaking at a Toronto screening of his movie "An Inconvenient Truth," he announced that the Canadian government's new, more realistic plan to reduce greenhouse gases "is designed to mislead the Canadian people."
Not only did he offer an opinion of global warming, he offered an opinion about the Canadian government, too -- as if his Oscar for his error-filled documentary had gone to his head and he suddenly confused himself with the ruler of the world.
That wasn't Gore's first back-kick in the international china shop. A few days earlier, he publicly insulted Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, our closest ally in Latin America, by refusing to share a podium with him at a Miami environmental conference.
Gore justified his lack of class by making wild accusations that Uribe has ties to Colombia's paramilitary guerrillas and is thus a human rights violator.
Gore's hypocrisy in this was obvious enough, since he attended a conference at the 2006 Clinton Global Initiative in New York with Bolivia's anti-American president, Evo Morales, whose violent actions and human rights violations are no secret.
Well, what's wrong with this, one may ask. Does it really matter if he hops into other countries' politics by laying judgment on them?
"As a private citizen, his opinions are his own," said State Department spokesman Eric Watnik. "He does not speak for the U.S. government."
But there's a difference in what Gore's entitled to do, and what he ought to do as supposedly an elder statesman.
Times, after all, have changed. In the age of the Internet, anything Gore says can make headlines. What he might convey to a small audience in Canada or Colombia is now blared through a global megaphone without accountability.
As a former vice president, his voice carries a lot farther by virtue of his old office than that of just anyone bloviating an opinion.
In the U.S. we may recognize Gore as just another politician, but overseas, citizens are more likely to see him as a representation of America. So in reality, his attacks can undermine America's diplomatic efforts.
A real statesman would grasp that significance and avoid inserting himself in other countries' internal affairs. This is common sense for anyone traveling abroad.
But the self-described Inventor of the Internet sees it differently. He seemingly feels no restraint in levying judgments on other countries, even if it damages U.S. ties with them.
By the way, this isn't good for democracy, either. Many of these countries have struggled to have representative governments, and suddenly see them being undermined by activists and citizen-diplomats like Gore.
An outsider like Gore has no idea why Canadians elected the government he attacked. But in the Internet age that hasn't stopped him from helping himself to all the privileges of political participation -- without the responsibility.
Canada's environment minister, John Baird, in fact said Gore didn't seem to have read Canada's climate plan at all.
If the media are any indication, Canadians were not impressed: Canadian editorials had titles like: "Time to Muffle Al Gore's Exhaust Pipe."
But we do worry about the impact of Gore's insults against an embattled ally like Colombia's Uribe. His nation is under fire from a deadly Marxist insurgency and now needs U.S. support, not just in aid but trade.
Gore's obnoxious insult was big news in Colombia, emboldening democracy's enemies there, and set a bad example for others here. President Bush seemed to recognize this, swiftly inviting Uribe to the White House this week -- in a not-so-subtle reminder to Gore that there are some places he won't be able to meddle.
Gore is doing worse than just meddling as he leaps into other countries' affairs. He's proving a nuisance to broader U.S. interests, too. Time for him to stop this destructive childishness.
