Gore: A Very Credible Choice : A model of what a VP candidate ought to be, compared to some others

When political pros and pundits discuss the qualifications for vice president, they talk about which region of the country the candidate represents, about liberal/conservative labels, about whether the person in the second spot on a ticket will have no effect or a negative effect on the chances of the presidential candidate. But when most Americans think about a vice president, they care most about one thing: Would he or she, if called upon, make a solid, credible President?

Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, the presumptive Democratic candidate for President, has named Sen. Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee as his vice presidential choice. Gore has a record as a centrist and the respect, if not the endorsement, of many American leaders in and outside his party. Whatever else one might say about the Clinton-Gore ticket, Gore enjoys a high level of confidence among those who have worked with him. In that regard he is clearly closer to the model of what a vice presidential candidate ought to be than others we might think of.

In choosing Gore, Clinton apparently is seeking to make a big statement about generational, baby-boomer change. Clinton is 45, Gore 44. (Clinton said he smoked marijuana in his younger days and didn’t inhale, Gore simply said he smoked marijuana during his college days and wisely left it at that.)

The selection of Southerner Gore also goes against the conventional wisdom of putting regional variety on a presidential ticket. We’ll be glad when “conventional wisdom” no longer also says that women and minorities on the ticket are risky. Alas, Clinton’s final short list of veep candidates contained neither. But of course that particular conventional wisdom won’t change until the nation changes.