Dear Al:
Congratulations on our Nobel Peace Prize. I am so proud to have been right by your side these past years, working closely together with you. Now our hard work has been recognized. It is time for us to ask ourselves, What’s next?

I know you are a modest, humble, self-effacing man. I know you do not seek glory for yourself. I know you were hurt, badly, the last time you ran. You swore to yourself that you would never do that again, that you would devote your life to monkish study and selfless pursuit of the cause that matters most to you — saving our planet from destruction. You would retreat from the spotlight, where you had never been comfortable anyway. You would spend time with your wife and family. You would read books, and write books, and make films. You would, ironically, go back full circle to your days as a young man, when you told yourself you would change the world.

Well, you have changed the world. Profoundly. You have raised awareness of the most pressing issue of our time. You have put the entire world on red alert. You have opened our eyes to the invisible danger that lurks all around us. And you know what? Along the way you have become a better campaigner than you ever were back in the day when you were actually running for office. You’re like Obi-Wan Kenobi — struck down, you have become more powerful than we could ever have imagined.

Now it is time. You must run. Not because you want to run, but precisely because you don’t want to run. That, Al, is your strongest point. You don’t want it. You don’t need it. You dare now to be yourself. No artificiality, no stiffness, no falseness. You are who you are. And we need you. We, your fellow Americans. We need you. Now more than ever. Our nation’s soul, hurt by this foolish war, cries out to you. We’ve been wounded by an administration so obsessed with so-called “terrorists” that they don’t notice the earth’s temperature rising at an alarming rate — nearly a tenth of a degree in just the last ten years. So blinded by fear of Iran that they don’t see the snowcap receding on Mt. Kilimanjaro, and icebergs melting and breaking apart in Antarctica. For nearly eight years we have suffered under this madness. This must end.

Al, I say this as your friend, but also as an American: Run. Run, damn you. Dig us out of this hole we’ve fallen into. Larry and I and the rest of the Valley will give you all the money you need. Just run. Run. (Photo paid for by Norman Hsu, Democratic National Committee.)