Gore: for a better America

HANNAH FRANK/YH

In a president, we are looking for a leader who will fight for all of us. And that means fighting for what really matters. We all know what the issues are: improving our public schools, providing universal health insurance, cleaning up the environment, banning junk guns and assault weapons, and protecting a woman's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. While we should not pick a candidate in order to vote against another one, it is important to realize that some of the candidates (and all of the Republican candidates) do not embody the ideology that we want our leaders to possess.

We must remember that the importance of these issues extends past any one platform; they are the key challenges facing our society today. And Al Gore's stances on these issues are the ones that any self-respecting Democrat would want in the White House.

The other important part of choosing a president is determining what type of leadership we want. Gore, as his past experience and his present attitudes have shown, is a team player who will work to get things done. He believes in addressing the big issues that face society, but knows that we need to take care of them in pragmatic ways. The example of universal health care illustrates the stances of the candidates. The Democratic candidates both support it, but we can see here a clear difference in leadership style. Al Gore believes that we should work to get it piece-by-piece, focusing on guaranteeing care for children first. This is a method that will get through Congress.

Senator Bill Bradley, on the other hand, believes that we need a "big solution." Bradley's "big solution," in addition to being incomprehensible to most people (let's not mince the numbers here), won't get through Congress. And, more importantly, when it doesn't, I don't see Bill Bradley as a candidate who will keep pushing to make it happen. I admire the senator for putting forth a broad plan that has made universal health a genuine campaign issue. However, we need to elect a president who will keep working at a problem until he solves it in a manner that will actually accomplish something.

Al Gore is very idealistic, contrary to some claims. The difference between Gore and Bradley is not who is more idealistic; rather, it is that Gore has a game plan that will work, while Bradley is betting it all on a shot from the other end of the court. These issues are too important to treat so haphazardly. Let's elect a president with the skills and leadership qualities to solve these problems the right way. We need a president who is willing to work for the people, both in times of good and times of ill. The slogan "stay and fight" is more than just lip service. Al Gore has been fighting for his constituents for decades. Bradley was an excellent senator, but anyone who is not a little concerned about a politician who quits the Senate because, as Bradley quipped, "Politics is broken," is ignoring a deep issue.

A real leader, the kind we need, confronts adversity (and the Republican Congress was adversity) and fights it. He keeps fighting for what he believes in, no matter how difficult it is. This is the kind of commitment that we need. Let's elect a president who inspires us to be proud Americans.

This can be done very easily. Watch a few campaign videos from each candidate. Sure, they're full of campaign propaganda, but you can still learn a lot from them. You can better understand the candidates for the people that they are; you'll find that Al Gore has a positive outlook for the presidency that expresses itself in his love of this country and his willingness to fight to make it better. More importantly, though, Gore is the one candidate who can deliver on the promise to make the United States a better place for all people.

Stuart Allen, a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards, is the Yale College coordinator of Students for Gore.

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