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What Gore Should Do (Maybe)

By Michael Kinsley
Posted Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000, at 1:30 AM ET

Dear Gov. Bush:

You and I are in a unique historical situation, and we are in it together. For at least one of us, and maybe for both, the actions of the next few days will be what we are remembered for by history. I am determined to do the right thing, and I believe I have figured out what that is. I hope you agree.

I analyze our situation this way.

First, a plurality of voters nationwide has expressed a preference that I should be the next president.

Second, it is clear beyond reasonable challenge that a plurality of voters in Florida shares that preference, though some number of them were thwarted in their attempt to express it. If they had not been thwarted, I would have a clear majority in the Electoral College.

Third, because the preferences these voters believed they were expressing went unrecorded, the official Florida vote count gives you a tiny plurality and therefore an Electoral College majority.

Fourth, uncertainty about who will be the next president is damaging to our country and will become more so as time goes on. This needs to be resolved soon.

Fifth—and here is the crux (and for me the agony) of the situation: Only I can do something about it. Although it is clear that justice, logic, and—quite possibly—the law dictate that I should be the next president, neither one of us can make that happen quickly. You cannot cede Florida to me, even if you were willing to do so. However, I can cede Florida to you by abandoning my—legitimate—challenges to voting irregularities in Palm Beach County and elsewhere.

I am prepared to do that. But for the sake of the people who voted for me, for history, and—to be brutally honest at this dramatic moment—for myself, I need something from you. It must be something that rewards my supporters for the sacrifice they are making, the loss of an opportunity to which they are entitled to see the government directed according to their agenda and their values. It must be something that makes clear beyond later denial that you hold the presidency as a result of historical accident and the grace and patriotism of others, not as a matter of indisputable right. And frankly, it must be something that hurts a bit, because the smugness and arrogance of your advisers during the past few days has made this gesture much more difficult for me and others.

It is tempting to demand some concrete role for Democrats in the next administration. Some have suggested a formally bipartisan Cabinet, or even more exotic scenarios such as the replacement of Secretary Cheney with Sen. Lieberman as vice president. But our system is not well-suited to coalition government. I think it is better to insist on your support for an item from the agenda I am abandoning. And I can think of nothing more fitting than campaign-finance reform.

Although the present situation is not directly the result of our corrupt electoral process, a cleaner system would have produced a cleaner result, one way or another. And as you have had occasion to note, I am as enmeshed in the system as you are. It has been my belief that you play the game according to the rules even as you work to change them. But I have publicly endorsed serious reform—the McCain-Feingold bill—which you have opposed. So, if you will drop your opposition and back McCain-Feingold (or something very close to it)—and if the Republican leaders in Congress will co-sign the agreement—I will drop my court challenges and allow you to become president. We needn't work out the details before resolving the presidential issue. I am willing to trust your good faith on a matter of such historical gravity.

It seems to me this is a generous offer. You get a presidency to which you are not entitled in exchange for a single piece of legislation that already has overwhelming public support. I get historical clarity about the sacrifice I am making and imposing on those who voted for me. And the American people get a political system they can be proud of.

Let me know.

Yours sincerely,

Al Gore

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Michael Kinsley is a columnist for Time and the founding editor of Slate.
Photograph of Al Gore on the Slate Table of Contents by Jim Bourg/Reuters.
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Reader Comments from The Fray:


[Notes from the Fray Editor: "Gore has created a crisis in this nation: The Fray is evidence of that." A worrying sentence for your Fray Editor to read (though Paul argued "people are always rude on message boards"). Whatever other crisis there may be, it is not one of silence or unvoiced opinions, or at least not on The Readme Fray. So far 19,000 messages have been posted on this article. Quite a lot of them were of this format: "Hey Gore/Bush, you won hands down, the party backing Bush/Gore is a gang of Gestapo henchmen." Here are some of the others:]


This is a very intriguing article. If a letter like this could be written by Al Gore, then he would have been elected by a stunning majority of people in our country. Part of the reason why he, as an incumbent candidate running in an excellent economy, could not command a decisive margin in this election is because he hasn't demonstrated the character, civility, and integrity that could produce a letter like this. You credit him with something here that is impossible from most career politicians, and certainly from someone like Al Gore, who has repeatedly shifted from one principle and argument to another to manipulate the greatest number of voters.

You also do Bush and his supports a disservice by making their position in this seem Machiavellian. It's a matter of opinion, but the televised arrogance and whining of Gore's people has eclipsed anything I've ever seen in any political arena in my entire life. And as for playing on Gore's supposed victory of the popular vote, recognize that he and Bush have statistically tied. The margins of error from machine counts of votes are wider than Gore's victory (and in fact, this may disappear anyway once all absentee ballots are counted). Bush is on no lower ground in this contest as a result of the popular vote.

Like you, I challenge Al Gore to stop scrambling for votes and concede what is a tiny but decisive loss in Florida, for the good of us all.

--Michael Cranford

(To reply, click here.)


When it comes down to it, this is not a personal battle between Mr Bush and Mr Gore. If the voters of Florida voted for Mr Gore, he should be president. If they were unable to cast their votes for the party they wanted to represent them because of a bad ballot format, then something should be done about that. It's not really a question of whether Al Gore personally would rather have this whole thing done with. The question is one of his responsibility to the voters of this country to challenge the verdict in Florida if there is good reason to believe that the verdict is not consistent with the preferences of voters. As there is good reason to believe this (notably, the outrage of voters in Palm Beach), Mr Gore has the responsibility to do everything he can to rectify the situation. Mr Bush should be more energetic about helping Mr Gore do this. If we are to maintain what little democracy we have left in this country, both sides should be concerned about accurate counting of voter preferences.

--Frank Jelope

(To reply click here.)


There are two problems with your fictional letter. First, Al Gore does not possess the magnanimity to ever concede the election under the circumstances you propose. Second, Al Gore does [not] feel as strongly about campaign finance reform as your letter suggests. Please remember this is a man who flagrantly solicited soft money under the most dubious of circumstances then developed convenient amnesia when he was caught.

--B. Cooper

(To reply, click here.)


We tried to warn you, so you got what you deserved. The next four years will bring you an illegitimate President along with a partisan Congress that will be mired in endless bickering and will accomplish absolutely nothing. My advise to Al Gore is be a gentleman, concede to Junior. Let him screw things up for the next 4 years and have a go at him again in 2004. Think of the legacy he'll have to deal with. Meanwhile the Green Party will continue to build the most progressive party the country has ever seen. When you see the light you'll come over to our side.

--Keymango

(To reply, click here.)


I can't imagine Al Gore writing this letter. Which, frankly, is the problem with Al Gore. I don't even think Mike Kinsley can really imagine Al Gore writing this letter--which is probably why it sounds like Mike Kinsley, not Al Gore. Hmm. Mike Kinsley for President? We've done worse....

--A.G.Android

(To reply, click here.)

(11/13)

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