Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again.” But Vice-President Al Gore is desperately trying to go home.We’d love to help him.
The only problem is: where’s home?
Let me tell you why I’m a little confused. First, Gore attacks his Democratic opponent, former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley, for leaving Washington. Then Gore turns around and, with great fanfare, moves his presidential campaign headquarters out of Washington.
You see the point of the switcheroo, don’t you? Americans would rather have a President who hasn’t spent his whole career cloistered in Washington. The GOP front-runner is a Texan, and nobody thinks of him as a creature of the Beltway.
Bradley, Gore’s Democratic opponent, served three terms in the U.S. Senate, but then retired. One minute Gore attacks Bradley for leaving Washington and the next Gore moves his campaign headquarters to Tennessee to distance himself from Washington.
But Gore has lived most of his life in Washington, not Tennessee. He grew up in D.C. and already has a 24-year career as a politician. Gore isn’t alone among career politicians in finding it hard to figure out where home really is.
Many remain in Washington, D.C. after they retire, never returning to live in the states they hold so dear. Former Speaker Tom Foley never returned to Spokane. Kansas Senator Bob Dole isn’t in Kansas anymore. The only home career politicians know is in the heart of power. For citizen legislators, home is where the heart is.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.