Gore's civic republicanism moment

Gore calls for 100% Clean Energy in 10 Years. My first reaction was, it's well done ("borrow money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn in ways the destroys the planet"...the ten year Apollo type challenge...the appeal to [progressive] nationalism); but why does he launch at this particular moment and what is the political purchase? How does he aim to influence the Presidential election? A NYT report is useful, Andy Revkin's commentary much more so. For example:

There’s no reason not to think big, although it might be harder for Mr. Gore to make this kind of statement if already in office, or seeking one, because it would be hard to find experts immersed in the challenges of generating, storing and distributing electricity at large scale who could chart an achievable or affordable 10-year path to doing this. Joe Romm at ClimateProgress.org said a more realistic ambitious goal would be 50-percent renewable electricity sources by 2020. And of course “affordable” is a word dependent entirely on public attitudes, so if the public can be energized sufficiently by leadership or circumstances, theoretically anything is possible.