Is This What We Expect?

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No matter how ugly things get for Bill Clinton, it seems, he can always count on Al Gore. "I am proud of him," Gore said from Hawaii on Monday, even as other Democratic politicians were diving for cover or parading their carefully worded disappointment in the President. Gore is feeling good about Clinton "not only because he is a friend but because he is a person who has had the courage to acknowledge mistakes. I am honored to work with this great President."

Scout's honor. The Vice President is nothing if not loyal (not to mention helpful, friendly, courteous, kind and obedient), but loyalty gets you only so far. At some point every Vice President with an eye on the top job must find a way to excise his boss without looking like a Brutus. For Gore, the trick will be to put some breathing room between himself and Clinton's character issues and to do it soon--but not so soon that he appears disloyal. "The question is when and how Gore can resurface," says Hank Sheinkopf, a New York City-based political consultant who worked on the Clinton-Gore media campaign in 1996. "He's done a brilliant job of staying out of view during the scandal, but at some point he's got to find the right time to jump up and remind people that he's not Clinton."

Not Clinton: it's a tough role for a man who has been running a three-legged race with the President for most of this decade. But it may be the key to Gore's success in 2000, because Americans are likely to want a very different kind of President next time around--not simply one who has control over his personal life (Gore's got no apparent troubles there) but one who levels with the people in all matters, who says it straight and doesn't dissemble. "The reaction now will be to look for just the opposite [of Clinton]," says G.O.P. media consultant Alex Castellanos, "someone who can look you in the eye and tell you hard truths about big things and serious things." Even Democrats like Sheinkopf agree. "This scandal will redefine our politics," he says, "and take it back to basics. The candidate who succeeds will be plainspoken, honorable, not a lot of fluff. People want a President with fewer complications."