Al Gore Had a Plan to Avoid this Economic Crisis 8 Years Ago

In the middle of the night last night, I awoke from a dream about Al Gore. It wasn't really a dream in the traditional sense, so much as it was a memory. I was recalling, from somewhere deep in my subconscious, one of his debates against Bush in 2000, during which Gore was talking about how he was going to take the budgetary surplus created during the Clinton presidency and put it in a lockbox to protect our social safety net.

And Bush was sneering at him.

When I woke up, I remembered how Al Gore was viciously mocked for his "lockbox" campaign theme, everywhere from SNL skits to mainstream debate coverage: "He must have used the word 'lockbox' about 20 times." Even after he'd lost, the media harangued him about his lockbox: "Well, maybe the beard should go into the lockbox!"

Al Gore's lockbox was routinely treated like the butt of a joke. Silly, nerdy, wonky Al Gore with his dorky lockbox!

Just sayin'.

Did I describe that as a dream, the thing I had last night? No -- it was a nightmare.