AH, WHAT A FEW YEARS CAN DO – AT 9:01 A.M. ET:  Remember when Dick Cheney was the villain and Al Gore was the real president who was robbed in 2000 yet nobly continued a career of public service, culminating in the every-leftist-gets-one Nobel Prize?  It seems so long ago.

Now, as Andrew Malcolm of the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog notes, there's been a reversal of fortune:

Americans are already starting to think better of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

There's a distinct global chilling going on about former Vice President Al Gore (you know, the divorce/alleged groping/debunked climate stuff).

And, eh, about the same feelings over Barack Obama's voluble sidekick, Joe Biden, who copied his notorious effing line from its inventor, his GOP predecessor.

The new Gallup Poll, released overnight, shows that a near-majority of Americans now views almost-president Gore unfavorably (49%), while 44% are favorable, down 14 points since his Nobel Prize glory days of 2007.

As the most recent former White House No. 2, Cheney had the most to improve in favorable ratings. And, actually, he did improve the most in the opinion of surveyed Americans.

Cheney's robust unfavorable rating melted 11 points during the past 18 months of the Democrat duo of Obama-Biden to 52% now. While the Republican's favorables surged from their low point of 30% all the way up to an impressive 36% now.That's a stunning 20% improvement.

Maybe that's why the genial Cheney's smiling so broadly above. Or perhaps he has something cagey in mind for 2012.

COMMENT:  Gore is learning that when you leave Tipper for the zipper, this is what happens.  (Okay, okay, it's not very good, but I had to try.) 

And Dick Cheney, who served this country well, is slowly being vindicated, as the nation watches Field Marshal Obama flop around in military strategy. 

Fortunes change.  Harry Truman was loathed when he left the White House, and lived to see himself elevated to the ranks of great presidents.  As for others, they wait and wait and wait.  But Jimmah, it just ain't gonna happen.

July 14, 2010