Al Gore in Decision Points, by Pres. George W. Bush
On Foreign Policy:
In 2000 debate, supported nation-building while Bush did not
When I ran for president, I never anticipated a mission like [nation-building in Afghanistan]. In the fall of 2000, Al Gore and I debated the most pressing issues facing America. Not once did the words Afghanistan, bin Laden, or al
Qaeda come up. We did discuss nation building. "The vice president and I have a disagreement about the use of troops, " I said in the first debate. "I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders."At the time,
I worried about overextending our military by undertaking peacekeeping missions as we had in Bosnia and Somalia. But after 9/11, I changed my mind. Afghanistan was the ultimate nation building mission.
We had liberated the country from a primitive dictatorship, and we had a moral obligation to leave behind something better. We also had a strategic interest in helping the Afghan people build a free society.
Source: Decision Points, by Pres. George W. Bush, p.205
Nov 9, 2010
On Principles & Values:
OpEd: Stiff and aloof candidate, but formidable and tough
Al Gore was a talented man and an accomplished politician. Like me, he had graduated from an Ivy League school and had a father in politics. But our personalities seemed pretty different. He appeared stiff, serious, and aloof. It looked like he had been
running for president his entire life. He brought together a formidable coalition of cultural elites & labor unions. He was plenty capable of engaging in class-warfare populism. He was also V.P. during an economic boom. He would be tough to beat.
Source: Decision Points, by Pres. George W. Bush, p. 73-74
Nov 9, 2010
Page last updated: Aug 18, 2011