We'll see if the guy is for real. Pretty decent article in Sports Illustrated coming - it hits newstands on May 8, but is already on the website.
Bono has good things to say, and it turns out that Lance is already meeting with people like Josh Bolton and talking to Bill Clinton.
The question is - can he make as much of a difference as Sports Illustrated seems to think he can?
A couple of selections from the article:
Where he's coming from -
...Armstrong's Army, a generation of cancer patients who are the opposite of passive victims. They are, like him, warrior-survivors. If he walked away from the fight today, that would be his legacy. But he isn't walking away. He's just getting warmed up.
Interesting. Hamilton Jordan is on the Board of Armstrong's Foundation, and he is no lightweight in the political realm. He's pulling no punches -
This "red zone" talk makes Hamilton Jordan red in the face. "Almost half the people alive today will have cancer in their lifetimes," thunders Jordan, a four-time cancer survivor who served as President Jimmy Carter's chief of staff. (As baby boomers age, decreases in mortality from other diseases will drive up cancer rates.) "That's a damn epidemic. And what are we doing about it? If you went back and added up all the budgets for the National Cancer Institute over the past three decades, we spent as much money on cancer as we spend in Iraq in nine months."
Damn.
And even the Big Dog joins in -
A mention of the ubiquitous Armstrong-inspired yellow wristbands triggers a Clintonian riff on how "the Internet and mass marketing mechanisms have increased the power of private citizens to do public good ... particularly if they are well led, whether it is by Bono or Bill and Melinda Gates or Lance Armstrong."
In addition to answering "what next questions" he also answers that pesky question about running for political office -
So this is what Armstrong does for an encore. This is the next hors catégorie mountain looming before him: raising money, raising awareness, cajoling, bullying, shaming -- "making a significant difference in the battle against what's going to be the Number 1 killer in America," Armstrong declares. "That's how I make seven yellow jerseys look small.""Ten years from now," says Clinton, "we may say Lance's second career was greater than his first."
Bono, by the way, thinks Armstrong should run for office. "Most people don't believe that the world can be changed," the Irish rock star and political activist says. "Lance is different. He understands that hills can be climbed, and he isn't even depressed when, upon reaching the summit of one, he sees a larger one [ahead]. He's used to that. That's what Lance Armstrong stands for."
Ixnay on politics, says Armstrong, who fears that the moment he chooses a political side, he will halve his influence. "I need to run for one office," he says, making up a title as he goes along, "the presidency of the Cancer Fighters' Union of the World."
Interesting. Now the big question is - can he do it? Is he serious? Will his involvement and the involvement of his foundation and his "Army" make a difference?
It is worth noting that Mark McKinnon (Bush's ad guru)is also on the LAF Board.
Maybe Lance is well-positioned to force changes in the cancer care system. There are 10 million cancer survivors alive today in America, and 60 million wristband wearers. I guess we'll see.