Why didn't Gore address climate change when he was in office?

Editors, Asheville Global Report, In the past month or so there has been quite a buzz about Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and with good reason. There has been a frightening media blackout on the issue of climate change. When climate change is mentioned by the corporate media, it is usually via some oil industry lackey spewing more hot air than a smokestack. So it is with great appreciation that a documentary about climate change is finally bursting the corporate media bubble. With that said, I am afraid that there is another inconvenient truth that must be addressed. WHY DIDN'T AL GORE DO A DAMN THING TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE WHEN HE WAS THE SECOND MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN THE MOST POWERFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD?! While VP, Gore couldn't even muster up enough of a backbone to get the US to seriously consider what is now considered an ineffective treaty, the Kyoto Protocol. If Gore really thinks that climate change is the single greatest threat to humanity and indeed life on Earth (which is quite accurate), wouldn't you think he might have wanted to address climate change at least a little bit into his 2000 presidential platform. I mean, don't you think that the SINGLE GREATEST THREAT TO LIFE should at least get a little bit of lip service in your presidential campaign? Couldn't he have done a damn thing to significantly reduce US dependence on fossil fuels while he was VP? Apparently not. Gore, through his inaction, joined a long list of politicians, oil and coal executives, and investors that must be held accountable for allowing and encouraging this climate catastrophe to escalate. Some people might try to say that Gore has redeemed himself through his movie. I say that Gore is a perfect example of why we must not depend on politicians or corporations to get us out of the mess that they have put us in. The path to a sustainable and just world must come from below, from the people, from us. It will not come from spineless two-faced politicians portraying themselves as modern day liberal messiahs. It will come from us taking direct action against politicians, against corporations, and in our daily lives as we explore sustainable and egalitarian ways of living, free of the aforementioned scum. Matt Wallace Marshall, NC