The more I read about the candidates, the more an obvious comparison leaps out at me, but for some reason it's one I've never seen mentioned. Rather than seeing Gore as parallel to Bush fils, he is really parallel to Bush pere.
Think of it: Both Prescott Bush and Al Gore Sr. put the families on the map, socially, politically, economically. They each had sons who grew up to the manner born, with a distinctly elitist perspective but also a real sense of noblesse oblige. These two sons--George H.W. Bush and Al Gore Jr.--both built great resumes, went into politics out of a sense of duty, were bad at and uncomfortable with the actual politics part. They, in turn, each had sons who grew up not just in privilege, but--in the classic third-generation style--without the sense of duty or discipline. These two slacker grandsons, of course, are George W. Bush and Al Gore III--who, before his brush with traffic court, was notorious for having been caught smoking dope at St. Albans.
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