The New Old Al
By Richard Cohen
Washington Post
Tuesday, July 2, 2002; Page A15
If, as Plato said, the
unexamined life is not
worth living, then Al Gore
has led one hell of a life.
The once and probably
future presidential
candidate is retooling
himself yet again. Last
time he ran as a political
mannequin, draped and
dressed by this or that
consultant, handler,
pollster or
color-coordinator -- earth
tones preferred. This time
he will run as himself -- if
only, I am obliged to add,
he knows who that is.
Once upon a time, that was
no mystery. Gore was the congressman and then senator
from Tennessee, renowned for his thoughtfulness and his
willingness to break the spine of a book and simply ingest
it. He wrote books himself, did his own thinking and made
himself master of many subjects, notably the environment
and arms control. He became the very model of a United
States senator.
Yet that Al Gore was not a natural politician. Something
about him -- his body language and the appearance that
he was lip-syncing his own voice -- made him a bad
presidential candidate the first time out. That was 1988,
when he proved himself not ready for prime time -- or at
least for Ed Koch -- in the New York presidential primary.
It is best forgotten.
Trouble was, he repeated his performance in 2000. He
kicked away a victory that should have been his. For all of
Bill Clinton's troubles, he gave Gore a pretty good platform
to run on -- peace, prosperity and a unified Democratic
Party. Still, George W. Bush won the presidency. It was a
close race, and Gore won the popular vote, but it says
something about both Bush and Gore that most people
preferred to move on with Bush rather than to stick and
fight it out for Gore.
Now Gore promises to reinvent himself once again. "If I had
to do it all over again, I'd just let it rip," he told a breakfast
meeting of supporters in Memphis the other day. "To hell
with the polls, the tactics and the rest. I would have poured
out my heart and my vision for America's future." In other
words, the New Al Gore is going back to the Old Al Gore.
Welcome back, I am tempted to say. That Al Gore did
indeed have vision and heart. He was a decent man, a
thoughtful man and he had -- although he kept it a secret
-- a winning sense of humor.
Al Gore will never be George Bush. The president is
famously comfortable in his own skin -- but more and
more, I am not comfortable with him. There is more to the
presidency -- especially presidential decision-making --
than feelings. Bush may have felt terrific about his $1.4
trillion tax cut, but it has contributed mightily to the
federal deficit and left the government scraping the bottom
of the barrel for cash.
Bush may feel terrific about his new foreign policy doctrine
-- the best defense is a good offense -- but it raises more
questions than it answers: What happens after Saddam
Hussein (or Iraq) is taken out?
Bush has settled into a morally comfy antipathy toward
Yasser Arafat -- he's off the Christmas card list -- but the
president's spokespersons simply cannot explain what
happens if, as expected, the Palestinians reelect Arafat.
Gore might well have reached some of the same decisions
-- although not on taxes, that's for sure. He was one of the
few Democrats to support the Gulf War, and he apparently
has few quibbles with Bush's Iraq policy. But he would
have thought out -- and could explain -- what happens
afterward. He does not proceed on feelings alone, setting
the course for iceberg-infested waters and then leaving the
bridge for a jog around the deck. Sometimes a little
thought -- even a lot of thought -- is a good thing.
But Gore is too preoccupied with Gore. His latest
pronouncement that he will be himself not only leaves
open the question of who that is but serves also to revive
the issue that plagued him and troubled us in the last
campaign. He introspects too much, tinkering with what,
by now, ought to be a finished product.
Get on with it, Al. Get out on the stump, stop telling us
who you are and start showing us. Maybe the unexamined
life is not worth living, but please -- at long last -- leave the
examining to us.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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