(2 of 2)
Though it deals with the environment rather than psychology, Gore's own book, Earth in the Balance, is infused with self-help concepts. Gore speaks of a "dysfunctional civilization" and uses terms like "pathology of addiction" and "denial" to discuss humanity's relationship to the earth. "Just as the members of a dysfunctional family emotionally anesthetize themselves against the pain they would otherwise feel," he writes, "our dysfunctional civilization has developed a numbness that prevents us from feeling the pain of our alienation from our world."
Not your basic campaign stump speech. But when Vice President Dan Quayle derides Gore's notions as "pretty bizarre stuff," he may not be aware that millions of people attend support groups every week in the U.S. "A lot of political professionals don't begin to suspect the extent to which millions of Americans have begun to think about these things -- the richness of their inner lives," Gore says.
That may be. But the willingness to expose those inner lives from the podium is something new in U.S. politics. In 1972 Thomas Eagleton was shamed off the Democratic presidential ticket after revelations that he had undergone shock therapy. This year, in contrast, the Democrats are getting maximum electoral mileage out of their personal problems -- perhaps hoping that people will bring their inner children into the voting booths with them.