Gore-ism is the Democrats’ sequel to Clintonism, which is not to say it’s the same. Gore-ism is delivered dutifully and correctly; it’s the good son’s politics without the rascality and, some say, the charm of the prodigal Comeback Kid. Among the big differences: Al Gore volunteered for Army duty in Vietnam, and confirms that he did inhale. But there are as many common threads with Clinton.
Al Gore started out in Tennessee in the seventies a “raging moderate,” he said; and he’s thrived as one of those triangulating Democrats, like Bill Clinton, who wanted to split some differences with Republicans–on Ronald Reagan’s Contra war in Nicaragua, early on, and even on his own environmental agenda. He’s a campaign finance reformer who’s taken a lot of soft money. He’s a fighter for the people, he says, who was born to money and power and has been teased as “Prince Albert.” We’re finding the core of Gore this hour on The Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Alex Cockburn, author of “Al Gore: A User’s Manual;” David Maraniss, Washington Post reporter and author of “The Prince of Tennessee: The Rise of Al Gore;”