Has Al Gore grabbed the mantle of Boomer-in-Chief from his old boss, Bill Clinton? Syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman thinks so, arguing that Gore’s striking post-political reinvention as the leading global warming evangelist points the way for an entire generation asking itself what’s next as it starts turning 60:

“The attention on Al Gore’s trajectory from loser to laureate misses something about this second act and second actor. As he approaches 60, Gore’s staking out something of a new path for his generation…[Gore is] the model for what Marc Freedman calls the “encore career.” The head of Civic Ventures, a think tank promoting civic engagement as the second act for boomers, Freedman says, “Gore found himself by losing himself - literally losing - and being liberated from ambition, the idea that there’s a particular ladder you have to scurry up and if you don’t make it to the top it’s all over. Essentially he found a different ladder.”

Gore’s reinvention extends beyond his work on the environment. His recent book, The Assault on Reason, is a remarkable analysis of what’s gone wrong with American democracy and prescription for change.

Put all that together with the Nobel Prize and you’ve got to wonder why he’d even consider returning to his first career in politics.

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Careers, Culture, Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.