INVENTING AL GORE: A Biography.

• Author: Heilbrunn, Jacob
• Position: Review

INVENTING AL GORE: A Biography

By Bill Turque Houghton Mifflin, $25.000

Have a political childhood and eight years under Clinton prepared Al Gore for the presidency?

BILL CLINTON MAY NOT, AS AL GORE defiantly declared during the impeachment process, be one of the "greatest" American presidents, but he is certainly the most successful Democratic one since Harry Truman. John F. Kennedy was tragically murdered before he could realize his vision of a New Frontier. Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency ended in the jungles of Vietnam. Jimmy Carter was knee-capped by the economy and the storming of the American embassy in Iran.

Today, the situation could not be more different. Crime and inflation are down, while employment is up. The stock market is booming. Welfare is at a historic low. The budget has been balanced. As the economy continues to surge and American preeminence remains unchallenged abroad, Clinton's key role in transforming the United States is starting to become appreciated among the more perceptive members of the right. In the National Review, for instance, Norman Podhoretz marveled at how Clinton has moved the Democratic party back to the center, thereby condemning the GOP to impotence. Podhoretz correctly noted that Clinton has turned the old McGovern wing into a rump faction by embracing everything from a balanced budget to welfare reform to school uniforms. Likewise, in foreign affairs, Clinton has not been averse to using military power to forward Wilsonian goals, while the GOP returns to older isolationist impulses. At the same time, Clinton has profited immensely from the nature of his domestic enemies: A key turning point in the fortunes of the GOP was the impeachment hearings, where the social conservatives spun out of control. The current battles among conservatives over John McCain and George W. Bush and the role of the religious right are stage two of a meltdown created by the successes of the Clinton presidency.

But if Clinton has set the stage for American prosperity, no one might do more to solidify his legacy than Al Gore. In Inventing Al Gore, Bill Turque, a veteran Newsweek reporter, closely examines the vice president's life and political odyssey. As the son of Senator Albert Gore, Al was always in the political arena. Turque deftly explores his relationship with his parents, his undergraduate years at Harvard, his brief stint in Vietnam, his service in the House and Senate, and his vice-presidency. Turque has conducted numerous interviews and dug deeply into Gore's record. The result is the most substantial and...