Gore's Energy Oomph

What Gore said yesterday won't solve the Democrats' immediate problem on the drilling issue. But he is making what Greenberg and Carville call for: "a bigger offer" on energy.

Gore's core assertion is that the technology for alternative fuels -- wind, solar and geothermal -- is far more advanced than we realize. Pushing that progress further would cut the costs of energy, with Gore insisting that renewables could eventually "give us the equivalent of $1 per gallon gasoline."

"The only way to break free from the burden of rising gasoline prices and electricity rates is to get free" from a process through which we "bid up the price of every last drop of oil and every last lump of coal," he said in the interview. Cheaper electricity, in turn, will speed the onset of electric cars.

The United States is now at a disadvantage in the global economy because we use disproportionate amounts of energy. According to the International Energy Agency, Americans use nearly twice as many tons of oil equivalent per person as do the Japanese and the Germans, and more than double the amount for the Swiss. Yes, our vast country may inevitably use more energy than more compact nations, but surely we can do better.

Voters say they hate gimmicks and insist they want bold solutions. Well, Gore is testing that proposition. He says he wants to "expand the political space" for those actually running for office. Will they take the opening?

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