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Not his job Stuck on the SidelinesBy Rick Horowitz
A bad day, diplomacy-wise, is when you have to worry about Belgium's position on NATO defending Turkey against Iraq. Not that our president is especially worried about Belgium's position on NATO defending Turkey against Iraq -- not when he's got France's position to worry about. And Germany's position. Which positions are, roughly speaking: Chill! Our "allies" are allied once again -- against us. How nice for them. Then there's Russia, telling us that when it comes to Saddam Hussein and his merry band of mischief makers, we need to give peace a chance. Russia, telling us to give peace a chance. Hey, but at least we've got Bulgaria on our side. I feel so much better knowing that -- don't you? So how do you think Al Gore feels? As if you don't have enough other things to think about, you're saying to yourself. We could be just days away from war. Our policies are being slammed by some of our closest friends in the world. Anti-American sentiment is on the rise in all the expected places, and plenty of the unexpected ones. We're picking up more and more chatter about possible new terrorist attacks here at home. Then there's North Korea, which wants nukes, or maybe it just wants talks, or maybe it just wants chaos, or... So who has time to think about Al Gore? I don't. But I do it anyway. It's not a longing; it's more a curiosity. (A welcome distraction?) I picture him puttering around some big old house in Tennessee, catching up on his mail, taking care of chores, doing whatever it is a person does to keep busy when the world is in turmoil and he's spent most of a lifetime preparing to be president to deal with that world and instead finds himself puttering around a big old house in Tennessee. Is he frustrated beyond measure to be missing out on it? Or is he thankful beyond measure that coping with this collection of global woes is somebody else's burden? I figure he has the TV on from time to time, so he sees the president trying to rally the country to battle. He sees the vice president trying to rally the country behind the president. And there's no avoiding the former president either -- his boss and partner for two terms, the man who, more than anyone, put Al Gore where he is today. Bill Clinton's been all over the screen lately, opining on this and that. Clinton's allowed to do it, Gore might be thinking to himself; he is, after all, a former president. What he thinks about these things matters. And Joe Lieberman, his own running mate not so very long ago, who's attending international conferences and making speeches and hitting the talk shows? Lieberman's allowed to do it, too, Gore understands. Lieberman wants to be the next president. What he thinks about these things also matters. What Gore thinks about these things doesn't matter, not really. It mattered for a few weeks there, back when it looked like Gore was getting ready for another run. People were paying attention. But then he decided not to try it. People turned their attention elsewhere. You're thinking I'm about to say that Al Gore would have been so much better at handling the current mess than George Bush has been. I can't say that. Too many unknowables. Too many unpredictables. I can say that he probably would have handled it differently, but whether he'd be more successful, or less -- sorry, my crystal ball blew a fuse a while ago. I suspect Gore would have been better at smoothing the waters with our allies. He knows the players. He speaks the language. He's not so easily dismissed as a cowboy in a funny hat and a permanent snit. But I doubt that Gore would have done nearly as well as Bush on the home front. People feel affection for -- even protective of -- Bush. They want this guy to succeed. They also resonate to his chords. He says "axis of evil" and "dead or alive." Gore would do 20 minutes on the history of chemical warfare. It's all speculation, though; we only get one president at a time, and it's not Al Gore. So he's not uttering. He's puttering. Posted 2/11/03. Get
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Rick Horowitz
