THE POWER OF THE NON-CANDIDATE. I went to see Al Gore testify on the Hill yesterday. The line of people waiting in the hallway of the Senate�s Dirksen Building to see Gore was long; many of those waiting were under 30.
Is Gore positioning himself to make a run for president? The conventional wisdom is no, and for a variety of reasons: he�s enjoying more attention and garnering more praise as a non-candidate; he is making proposals (like the substitution of carbon taxes for payroll tax cuts) that undermine a potential bid; and, the most superficial of them all -- that he hasn�t shed 20 or 30 pounds. It�s hard to know what to make of all of this, other than to say that circumstances will probably be more critical than Gore�s mindset. If that�s true, maybe he shouldn�t run. A person shouldn�t run for passive reasons, like the collapse of the Democratic field or the dissatisfaction of primary voters with that field.
One of the many ironies of Gore�s career is that he now has a compelling issue and reason to run, one that he tried to insert into earlier campaigns, with far less success, than now. Gore has said that he believes people are listening to him more now precisely because he�s not asking for votes. In an interview with NPR�s Terry Gross originally aired last May, Gore said: �I think that in a political campaign, particularly in a campaign for president, the way candidates are perceived is shaped by the constant attacks by the opposing side, shaped by the healthy skepticism viewers and listeners bring to anything that somebody asking for votes is saying, and shaped also by the necessity of the campaigns, which don�t allow you to speak about only one issue but require you to speak necessarily speak about the full range of concern of that American voters have the right to hear your views on and when you move one to the other that�s a different kind of presentation.�
It�s a sad but accurate indictment of both politicians and cynical voters that a non-candidate is taken more seriously about a matter of such national and global import. In that regard -- and only in that regard -- it was perhaps a good thing for the planet that Gore lost in 2000.
--Tom Schaller
