To the editor:

In his July 24 op-ed piece, Michael Grunwald suggests Al Gore seek the vice presidency because “It’s a job that would give him the power to do something about global warming.”

Well, yes, it would give him that power. However, he had that same power between 1993 and 2001 and squandered it.

During their 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton and Gore promised, if elected, to increase the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards for cars from 27.5 miles per gallon to 40 mpg by 2000, and to 45 mpg by 2015.

“Instead of coddling special interests whose fortunes depend on America’s addiction to foreign oil, our national energy policy will promote national security, energy diversity, economic prosperity and environmental protection,” Clinton and Gore wrote in Putting People First.

Unfortunately, when Clinton and Gore left the White House in 2001, the CAFE standard for cars remained unchanged at 27.5 mpg.

To make matters worse, consumers found a loophole in CAFE. CAFE required the once-popular station wagon to meet the 27.5 mpg standard. However, since CAFE exempted SUVs from that standard, the sales of SUVs skyrocketed during the 1990s. As a consequence, the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in 2001 was at its lowest point since 1980. We had become far more addicted to foreign oil than we were in 1992.

Given that record, does Al Gore really deserve a “do over”?

Kevin Groenhagen,

Lawrence