Gore Won’t Run: Kos Has Spoken!
For someone who’s supposed to be politically astute, Markos sure is dim sometimes. Hey, Markos, this sort of thing happens with almost every candidate, every election…Gore may or may not run, but you don’t know, and neither do I…
I’ve got no problem saying Kos is dim, but I’m not sure I’d do it based on this. Gore did leave enough weasel room to run, but not much. I think Kos is looking at that from the realistic point of view. There’s lots of politicians who have played the “Oh, I’m not even thinking about that right now” card, but that’s a lot different from “I don’t expect to run.”
Politicians seem congenitally incapable of ever closing off an option, and they also realize they’re more likely to keep getting ink if they leave a hint that they might still run as opposed to saying, “Nah, I’m just going to spend my golden years working the rubber-chicken circuit.” So maybe it’s asking a bit much to get a Shermanesque statement out of any of them. But I think “I don’t expect to run” is as close as you’re going to get.
I’m sure it also appeals to their natural giant egos. Now Gore can heed the call if there’s a sudden “Draft Gore!” upswelling, and I’m sure he’d like to think there might be such an upswelling. But really, has a “Draft XXX” movement ever come to fruition? I mean, outside occasional outliers like Eisenhower?
Genuine “drafting” of unwilling or indifferent candidates is almost impossible. Eisenhower was a little more than unwilling, although he’s the best recent example.
“Drafting” Gore would be a little different, however. This is a case of a candidate in search of a constituency, not the other way around.
Cincinnatus was a sucker.