The most amazing thing happened after Steve Jobs offered Al Gore a position on the Apple Board of Directors. Prior to that, Apple was constantly under attack by Greenpeace and other "Green" organizations for "Not doing enough" for ecology and green efforts. Although Apple was at the head of the industry in recyclable products and non-toxics in Apple products they were the BIG name to use in headlines in FUD articles for ECO and GREEN attacks from Greenpeace. As soon as Gore was on the board, all of that went away! Apple was no longer fighting the hydra of eco attacks every time they turned around. . . and Al Gore does essentially nothing. He was like a magic talisman against the Greenies. They turned their attention elsewhere.
And there have been a number of attacks since then, and as is always the case with Greenpeas, attacks that are essentially without merit.
Maybe Jobs' intention was to use Gore as protection against the greens, but I suspect it was more of a consolation prize (along with some juicy stock options) that Jobs bestowed on Former President Elect Gore out of a sense of shame that he was unfairly deprived of his just rewards by someone as unworthy as G. W. Bush.