What's Behind the "New Gore"? Ask Joe Campbell or Bill W. – Or the Guy Who Writes Dating Tips
RJ Eskow
05.31.2006
With the great week he's just had, pundits have been puzzling over the secret of Al Gore's new appeal. How did he go from being a "has-been" to a "could-be" with growing grassroots support? Bob Shrum may not know, but Joseph Campbell has a few clues. So do the "how to meet girls" experts, Beatles manager Brian Epstein, AA founder Bill W., and the Bhagavad-Gita.
Think I'm kidding?
I'm not trying to go all Naomi Wolf on you here (although, as Bob Somerby points out, those stories about Wolf advising Gore on how to be an alpha male are more phony press inventions.) But a transformation process like the one Gore's been going through deserves some closer study. Why is he so popular with the very people who once spurned him as the epitome of the old, consultant-driven, DLC-beholden Democrats?
A lot of it's right on the surface, for anyone to see. He's far more relaxed, wittier, and more impassioned. But there was a time he could do nothing right. Now, he resonates with the very qualities he once seemed to lack: authenticity, passion, and spontaneity.
His new fans (consider me one) may bring a sense of identification to their encounters with Al. He seems liberated from a lifetime of having to saying and do the right things, following the rules and keeping his mouth shut. People see him rejecting his preordained role and acting in a more genuine manner, as they would like to do themselves. His new-found freedom becomes our own.
If it's not exactly Beatlemania in scope (or in hysteria level), it's not unrelated. The genius of Beatles manager Brian Epstein was that he recognized that a weary world, reeling from the death of JFK and the terror of the Cold War, wanted escape. The Beatles created an alternate world, one you'd rather inhabit than your own. Gore, with his new sense of purpose and enjoyment for his work, sometimes seems to be on the verge of doing the same thing. He seems to make politics fun again, in a way it hasn't been since the days of JFK and RRK.
As for Joseph Campbell, he synthesized a number of myths from around the world and popularized them through his mass-marketed books and TV appearances. Every aspiring screenwriter in Hollywood now follows the "hero's journey" formula as avidly as they do the Syd Field three-act structure.
A lot of the "hero" material is contrived and superficial but, like many pop-philosophical ideas, it has a core of truth. It's striking how many of the "journey's" stages are contained in Gore's character arc. There's "limited awareness," where he seemed unable to see the staleness of his approach as a candidate; "reluctance to change" (like Odysseus unwilling to leave the comforts of home for battle in Troy), and then the "separation" and "the call" (when something is taken from us and we struggle to gain it back),
Next comes the symbolic "death" of what we once were, followed by a fall into the "abyss." That's certainly the post-2000 Gore - a politician who wound up in the most bitter of situations (elected President but unable to take office and almost universally branded a failure.)
Then there's "the rebirth" and "the revelation" - in Gore's case, that some things were more important than even the politician's Holy Grail, the Presidency; followed by "the atonement," and "the return" with a sense of higher mission.
Sound ridiculous? Maybe, but I'm convinced there's something there. Gore has accidentally found a way to present himself that shows a path out of the Democratic, consultant-driven doldrums toward authenticity and commitment. He calls himself a "recovering politician, somewhere around the ninth step."
The "Ninth Step," as any AA member can tell you, is where "(we) made direct amends (to those we had harmed) wherever possible." Maybe Gore picked Step Nine at random. Or, he may consider his current environmental work "amends" - which differ from "apologies" in that they involve making an active effort to correct the damage we've done.
AA members are aware that their literature suggests that a new level of serenity and contentment is reached once someone begins working this step. As Bill W. wrote in the "Ninth Step Promises":
"If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and self pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change ... We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us."
Sound like any politicians you know?
If Joe Campbell and Bill W. don't sound like typical political advisors to you, try the dating gurus. It's almost as if Gore's been channeling them, too. Here's what a typical dating advisor has to say:
Many guys put too much emphasis on learning "lines" and "techniques" when they are first starting down the path to success with women ... but the truth is you won't achieve the massive success you desire until it comes from inside of you.
You should be totally detached from the "outcome" of any situation with a woman. What that means is that no matter what she says or does, your life goes on the same way. If a woman rejects you, it is no big deal. If a woman goes home with you, it is also no big deal. Try to become the guy who doesn't care either way. This attitude of indifference is magnetically attractive to women.
The same seems to be true of politicians. If winning and losing aren't important to you anymore, if they're just a laugh line ("I used to be your next President"), you become confident, self-contained, and attractive. The key is to be someone, autonomous and integrated, independent of the office you seek.
In the end, that's a spiritual position more than a strategic one. You do whatever's required of you without concern for the outcome. As the Bhagavad-Gita says, "The wise man is entitled to his actions, not to the fruit of his actions. Act without concern for reward."
Do I think Al's been reading Joseph Campbell, or Bill W., or the Bhagavad-Gita? Naturally, I have no idea (although I'm pretty sure he's not reading columns on how to meet women.) But, however accidentally, he's stumbled onto something that resonates strongly with a wide group of people on the leftward side of the political spectrum. Has he found new sources of inspiration and guidance? That much is pretty clear.
And a new and motley crowd of advisors might be a welcome relief from the usual flock of Democratic consultants. (Bob Shrum, bete noire of progressive Democrats, recently wrote a highly defensive if ultimately unconvincing piece for the UK's New Statesmen. Interestingly, he's still got power - even Russ Feingold pointedly refused to diss him in our recent blogger lunch. "I've got no problems with Bob," he insisted.)
Note to Dems: If you want to resonate with your voting base and bring some spiritual mojo to your campaign, don't try to imitate the Fundamentalists or the Shrum-ians. Look for more unorthodox advisors. You may never be lonely again.
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