[Reporter`s View] Gore`s retreat is graceful, emotional

The retreating figure of Vice President Al Gore, who lost November¡¯s U.S. presidential race, stirred up quite an emotion.

As ex officio Speaker of the U.S. Senate, he presided over the joint session of Congress to certify the election of George Bush on Jan. 6. Gore rejected objections raised by several Democratic Representatives to Bush's election on the ground that they lacked legal requirements. Praying for God's blessing on the new president and vice president, Gore left the scene in the midst of the Congressmen giving a standing ovation.

What crossed Gore¡¯s mind that day? An unfortunate candidate who won the popular vote but failed to gain the White House for the fourth time in U.S. history; a presidential contender who fought an unprecedented month-long legal battle for the office of the president; a man who had to retract his first phone call to congratulate the victory of his rival, now the president-elect, and then making another call to renew his congratulations; a loser who was on hand at the scene of certifying Bush's election at last.

Born to a wealthy family, Gore followed a triumphant path to the elite for two decades. For that reason, perhaps, he had been labeled a model personality forged in a rut all through the campaign. The vice president must have found it all the more hard for him to acknowledge his defeat.

What is worse, it is hardly certain whether Gore will be able to enter the next presidential race in four years. Aside from Bush's chance of seeking a second term, a few new faces are emerging within the Democratic Party to bid for the presidency. Gore is not quite credited with such a charisma as would enable him to retain and lead his political supporters over time. Instances of once-defeated presidential contenders given a second chance have been few and far between.

The vice president thus is in a position to feel a sense of crisis that his political career is coming to an end. But the sight of a departing Gore spoke otherwise. In a speech admitting his defeat in December the vice president declared patriotism comes before partisan spirit. Polemics might have raged wild until the finish line, he said, but both the victor and the loser should accept the results with calm once they came out in the spirit of conciliation.

The clean deportment of the receding Gore contrasted sharply with the nasty shape of Korean politicians who are yet to break with the negative legacies of partisan strife in the course of elections, biting at one another in every way.

Nam Chan-Soon, editorial writer