Politics

A Testy Tête-à-tête

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 7, 2001 / 6:17 AM EST / CBS

A few days after former Vice President Al Gore conceded the 2000 presidential election, he and former President Bill Clinton had what sources described as an hourlong "blunt" exchange, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

In what sources close to both men described as uncommonly blunt language, Gore forcefully told Mr. Clinton that his sex scandal and low personal approval ratings were a major impediment to his presidential campaign, the Post said.

People close to Mr. Clinton told the newspaper the former president responded with equal force that it was Gore's failure to run on the administration's record that hobbled his ambition.

Prior to the showdown, Gore and Mr. Clinton had barely spoken for a year, the Post said.

"They had to cover a lot of territory," said one Democrat, whom the paper described as being close to Mr. Clinton and Gore.

Only Mr. Clinton and Gore were present for the meeting, which Gore initiated and which never appeared on internal schedules distributed to White House staff, according to the Post.

A Clinton adviser described the tone of the meeting as "tense" while a Gore aide called it "cathartic." One Democrat who has worked closely with both men called the session "very, very blunt," the Post said.

The report said descriptions differ as to how the meeting concluded. Sources who heard descriptions from either man said the meeting essentially ratified what for many months had been an unspoken truth between them: Their relationship suffered irreparable harm in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Mr. Clinton's lies to Gore and the nation about it. The report quoted one Democrat as saying Gore "seemed eager to get things off his chest."

The Post said others put a more upbeat spin on the session, calling it a useful clearing of air that should allow the two men to move forward.

The report said the two camps have not come close to finding common ground on why Gore lost the election. According to the Post, a senior White House official close to Mr. Clinton scoffed: "I don't thing the fact that they lost four out of four debates had anything to do with Bill Clinton."

Aides close to Mr. Clinton told the newspaper he was mystified and at times angered by Gore's refusal to run on the strong economy and other issues in which Mr. Clinton felt both he and his vice president deserved credit. They said just as voters made a distinction between Mr. Clinton's personal conduct and his job performance, Mr. Clinton believed Gore could campaign on the record without being tied to the presidential scandals.

Clinton spokesman Jake Siewert and Gore spokeswoman Kiki McLean both said their bosses would not comment on a private conversation.

The two camps around both men have also become estranged, the Post reported. Some senior Clinton advisers said they were once close to many top Gore advisers but friendships among generations of Democrats ruptured during 2000.