A Principled Withdrawal

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A Principled Withdrawal
by James Hall, Senior Associate Editor

December 19, 2002

"Leaning Left"

James Hall Former Vice President Al Gore (1993-2001) (AP) Al Gore's decision to withdraw from the 2004 presidential race certainly wasn't a rational decision to wait for a better time. Political polls showed that Gore still had the allegiance of large numbers of Democratic voters who believed that he was robbed of his chance to be president by the US Supreme Court nearly two years ago. If anything can bring out a party's base, it's the perception that their votes weren't counted in the previous election. But Gore wanted to avoid fighting that battle again --- elections, he said, are about the future, not the past.

Naturally, his statement didn't prevent Washington cynics from speculating that Gore was trying out Richard Nixon's strategy. Nixon lost the 1960 presidential election and later swore he was getting out of politics, only to successfully resurface eight years later as the clear front-runner and eventual winner. That might be Gore's calculation, but it ignores potent candidates waiting in the wings like Hillary Clinton, and chances the same fate as failed candidates Michael Dukakis and Walter Mondale. Clearly Gore's best shot at the presidency is now.

So why did Gore pull out of the race? He was obviously troubled by the cold shoulder given him by many hard-core Democratic Party regulars and donors who felt that he didn't fight hard and well enough to beat George W. Bush in what should have been an easy bid to continue the peace and prosperity of the Clinton presidency. Gore has run for the office twice and might flinch from a third grueling contest. But I think the telling factor was Gore's concern that the country not relive a harsh and divisive campaign at a time when it should remain united in the face of terrorism.

Gore's withdrawal gives Democrats a fresh start to define themselves in a post 9/11 world. The party has strong liberal candidates that include Senator John Kerry, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and Governor Howard Dean, and capable centrist voices like Senator John Edwards, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, and Al Gore's former running mate, Senator Joe Lieberman. They'll give Democrats a good primary and good choices to match against George W. Bush.

Democrats owe Gore a debt of gratitude for this, and for returning during the mid-term elections to blast, as only he could, a politically invulnerable president for his policies on Iraq, the economy and the environment. If other Democrats had picked up this message, perhaps the party's base would have come out in this past election and the party would have been spared its electoral defeat.

Gore says he will remain active on a policy level this coming year with a series of speeches. By taking a stand on the importance of the US continuing to follow the United Nations resolutions and its process on Iraq, he's already offered a place where Democrats both in favor and opposed to war can gather. By suggesting that the country is ready for a single-payer system of medical insurance, he's opened up the debate on national health care for the first time since Hillary Clinton's ill-fated Health Security Act in 1993. An Al Gore out of the running may rally Democrats more effectively than candidate Gore ever did. ***

James Hall
Orlando, Florida, USA

Photo of the author courtesy of staff files
Photo of Former Vice President Al Gore (1993-2001) courtesy of the Associated Press