It is not recorded whether Oprah remembered the time she covered a routine crime scene with other reporters, including Al Gore. Gore, we learn, had been coached even beyond recalling the name of the media stations Oprah had worked for. He is no longer that, he has been redeemed, and that means more time with wife and children. Whereupon Oprah was furnished with a pretaped segment that she put on the air. It showed Gore and Tipper cuddling on a couch, reminiscing about their marriage.
People do a lot to become president.
But there are things self-respect is there to intercept. It isn't to deny the genuine intimacy of the relationship to question whether it should be disemboweled for Oprah and her legions. I was driving a distance last Feb. 1 and the radio station reported Gore's victory in the New Hampshire primary over Bill Bradley. He was at his campaign headquarters hotel and was given the microphone. In the car, we awaited the usual formalities.