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THE term “uncool” could have been invented for Al Gore, a man so earnest in demeanor that his idea of a good time is hosting dinners where the attendees solemnly discuss the use of metaphor. Those unfortunate enough to have seen the footage of Al dancing with his wife, Tipper, at the 1993 inaugural balls witnessed the embodiment of every cliché about clueless white men— he moved, without reference to the pop music blaring from the stage, in a herky-jerky pseudo-waltz, pumping Tipper’s arm up and down like a piston while she smiled gamely.

So when Gore took the stage at the University of Michigan the other week for a town meeting cosponsored by the cable channel MTV, a real clash of cultures was taking place. In a similar MTV forum eight years ago, Bill Clinton had entered the precincts of coolness for the first time—a place he might not have been expected to gain entry to, considering that he claimed the soporific clarinetist Kenny G as his favorite musician-—when he smiled his mischievous smile and admitted to wearing briefs rather than boxers. The moment was crucial for Clinton, since it began the process of lowering his soonto-be-presidency to a level that would make it possible for him to survive his sleazy hijinks with Monica Lewinsky six years later.

About the Author

John Podhoretz

John Podhoretz is the editor of Commentary.

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THE term “uncool” could have been invented for Al Gore, a man so earnest in demeanor that his idea of a good time is hosting dinners where the attendees solemnly discuss the use of metaphor. Those unfortunate enough to have seen the footage of Al dancing with his wife, Tipper, at the 1993 inaugural balls witnessed the embodiment of every cliché about clueless white men— he moved, without reference to the pop music blaring from the stage, in a herky-jerky pseudo-waltz, pumping Tipper’s arm up and down like a piston while she smiled gamely.

So when Gore took the stage at the University of Michigan the other week for a town meeting cosponsored by the cable channel MTV, a real clash of cultures was taking place. In a similar MTV forum eight years ago, Bill Clinton had entered the precincts of coolness for the first time—a place he might not have been expected to gain entry to, considering that he claimed the soporific clarinetist Kenny G as his favorite musician-—when he smiled his mischievous smile and admitted to wearing briefs rather than boxers. The moment was crucial for Clinton, since it began the process of lowering his soonto-be-presidency to a level that would make it possible for him to survive his sleazy hijinks with Monica Lewinsky six years later.