[jfengel]

I don't think it was for the money. I think it was for the ego. The money exists so that he can do things that make him feel good about himself.

I think he would love to be the guy who saved the planet. And if he's accomplished that by 2040, I'll be grateful to him for that. He'll have deserved it.

I think he'd also love to be the guy who colonized Mars. I believe that if you could ask him for one thing he wants, it's to be remembered in one breath with Christopher Columbus.

Of late, he seems to be distracted from both of those approaches. For a while, he thought he could be the guy who drowned the US government in the bathtub, enabling him to pursue his other feats in peace.

If that is ending, perhaps he'll return to being the great green visionary, electrifying the country despite the entrenched power structures working against him. It would take a lot to revise my extremely negative opinion, but if he really can be the guy who defeats global warming, I'll applaud him for it.