As a contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 1984, Sheehy has written character studies of dozens of national and world figures, including George Bush, Al Gore, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Bob and Elizabeth Dole, Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher, Saddam Hussein, Anwar Sadat, Newt Gingrich, and Gary Hart. He tries too hard to be perfect.
Perfection is a serious flaw for a modern politician.
Gore has suffered from it all his life. The ur attribute of a successful politician is charm. Gore doesn't need to be loved. He needs to be right. Al Gore's goody-goodiness deprives him of the messy human imperfections that allow voters to get past their envy of the famous and powerful.