He does his bit and then vanishes into the fog of anonymity. If you talk to Democrats, most dismiss him as toast, but in the next breath, they discuss timetables for his public re-emergence. It is a difficult thing for career politicians to surrender the stage. The business insinuates itself into their souls. They become accustomed to speaking before throngs throbbing with expectation.
Words gush like spilled wine and vapid phrases take on the luster of newfound eloquence.
Every sloganeer presumes to channel Pericles. The raw energy of politics explodes from our own limitless, vague aspirations. None of this is lost on officeholders, who naturally revel in the presumption that they possess talismanic powers. This implied might both knits them to the masses and sets them above. But so far, Gore has straight-armed those temptations and has led an exemplary, quiet public life.