Opinion: Did Al Gore Invent His Marriage Too?

(June 3) -- One big reason why the Al and Tipper Gore split-up comes as such a shock is because the former vice president and his wife worked so hard to project a public image of the perfect couple in a perfect marriage. And for the most part, we bought it.

Whether it was real or whether it was Memorex, only time will now tell. But there were clues all along that the storybook image might not have been quite as advertised. The biggest clue was that they seemed to be overdoing it. Good marriages just are. You don't have to keep talking about how good yours is. But somehow, we fell for it anyway.

Gore, on many occasions, went out of his way to publicly talk up the personal and marital bonds he and Tipper enjoyed, even more so in the late 1990s after Monica Lewinsky burst into the lives of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Running for president in 2000, Gore did all he could to draw sharp contrasts between the icy relations that had emerged between the Clintons and what he wanted voters to believe was the steamy hot attraction between the Gores.

Remember that open-mouthed kiss he planted on Tipper at the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles? It was preceded by his acceptance speech, when he called Tipper "someone I've loved with my whole heart since the night of my high school senior prom."

We in the media who were there to witness the spectacle cringed a bit, but dismissed it as Al being Al, a little goofy but probably sincere. The audience of cheering Democrats, however, loved it.

But Gore had a reputation for exaggerating. Among other things, he got himself into hot water with the remark that he helped create the Internet. He also once intimated, inaccurately, that he and Tipper were the models for the couple in the Erich Segal 1970 novel "Love Story," later a movie that starred Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neill.

So why didn't we suspect he was exaggerating the quality of his marriage? It was probably because in those days we thought it was too risky to speculate on personal stuff without evidence. Everything is different now.

In interview after interview with reporters covering the 2000 campaign, Gore talked about what a great wife he had and how lucky he was to have her, calling her his best friend, his closest confidante and one great love.

Melinda Henneberger, writing in Politics Daily on Wednesday, recalled a 2000 interview she did with Gore when she was a reporter with The New York Times: "I mentioned to the vice president that I had interviewed his wife earlier that same day, and he lit up. 'Isn't she cool?'"

Many who knew Tipper would agree. "Cool" was a good word to describe her. Where Al was a bit of a stiff, she had the sunny personality of a high school cheerleader, even given her problems with depression.

On a 1996 campaign bus tour in Washington state with the Clintons and the Gores, Tipper came over during one of the stops and began lightheartedly bantering with reporters. It was one of those great unscripted political moments that are rarer and rarer these days of tightly managed candidates afraid of making a mistake or showing a too-human side.

During the friendly exchange, she cracked a joke. As we all broke into laughter, she playfully nudged me in the ribs and gave me a wink and an impish smile.

Watching Tipper walk away, I remember saying to myself, "Now I know what Al sees in her, but I still don't know what she sees in him."

Richard Benedetto is a retired USA Today White House correspondent and columnist. He now teaches politics and journalism at American and Georgetown universities.

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