Al Gore at the Wang: When Moderators Attack

Between Milligan's line of questioning and the introductory comments of Boston Phoenix publisher Stephen Mindich (who sponsored the event), the evening was essentially hijacked in the name of the newspaper industry. Both were more focused on Gore's stint as an investigative reporter in the 1970s (for The Tennessean) than any of the far more pertinent roles Gore played in recent times (would-be President, for one).

During his opening speech, Gore came off as both intelligent (natch) and really funny (who knew?). He quickly abandoned the podium in favor of pacing the stage, spouting jokes and quoting statistics with equal ease. Gore reminisced on what he called the "emotional whiplash" of the 2000 Presidential election, and the misquotation that briefly led the world to believe that he and Tipper were opening a low-cost family restaurant.

From there, it was straight into his favorite topic--the threats posed by global warming, and the need to change the way we get our energy. Gore asserted that America's central crises--the economy, national security, and the environment--are all inextricably linked. He discussed the reticence of many to accept global warming as a fact, remarking that human beings are "hardwired to confuse the unprecedented with the impossible."

After rattling off some scary numbers (ice cap meltdown within five years!), Gore ended with an Obama-esque rallying cry. "We have got to make up our minds that now is the time," he said, speaking in particular to the audience's twentysomething constituency.

Once Gore sat down with Milligan in the provided leather armchairs, the focus shifted abruptly. The Q&A began innocently enough. Milligan asked whether Gore felt he was able to do more outside of elected office than he would've had he won the presidency ("I'm a recovering politician," he joked). But her line of questioning soon grew hectic and leading: Why aren't we more scared of nuclear power? Isn't working on renewable energy a luxury during a recession? Why hasn't Obama fixed the economy yet? Are the American people secretly all a bunch of lazy bastards?

"You seem to have a lot of anger," Gore said at one point, and he was only half joking.

Then there were a series of questions on the future of journalism, the death of the newspaper industry, and those dastardly bloggers stealing jobs from the professionals. While Gore was gracious in answering her questions, he seemed as flummoxed as anyone as to why this tangential topic should take up so much time. He reverted to professor mode, diving back into history and name-checking the likes of Thomas Paine and Johannes Gutenberg.

It was around this time that audience members began to leave the theater in small packs. At first we thought maybe all these people just suddenly had to pee real bad, but they never came back.

As we said, the Speaker Series doesn't know what it wants to be yet. And while it's searching for meaning, it's open to hostile takeover from any number of sources. At Coulter/Maher, it was the restive audience; this time, it was a self-interested moderator.

If the MSG brass really want this to be a kind of "town hall meeting," as the rep at Coulter/Maher put it (forbidding ticket prices aside), they need to let the town have its say. And that means letting the audience field a good portion of the Q&A. The results may end up being messy, but at least they'd be, well, interesting.

Photo from Flickr user simone.brunozzi, licensed under Creative Commons.