June 19 (Bloomberg) -- So how is Al Gore like Greta Garbo and J.D. Salinger? They made themselves desirable by making themselves scarce. People were clamoring for Gore to endorse during the primary, thinking a grudge against the Clintons would tilt him toward Barack Obama. He felt no need to inject himself.

For eight years, Gore has ignored every political rumor, ``Draft Gore'' Web site and boomlet, immersing himself in work that would win him worldwide accolades while keeping him apart from the political maelstrom.

That didn't keep his name out of various dream scenarios for this year's presidential race. Only in Washington would the chattering class believe that after a Nobel Prize and an Oscar, someone would want to go through the medieval torture of a modern presidential campaign. Those who had Gore coming in on a second ballot to rescue his party were sure he harbored a desire for a rematch to win what was denied him in 2000.

He seems to have moved on. For many, if not most, defeated candidates, losing is the wound that never heals. Recently HBO reopened the wound with its movie ``Recount,'' about chads in Florida. And in a ``60 Minutes'' interview, Justice Antonin Scalia poured salt on it saying that it was ``nonsense'' to think that politics guided the Supreme Court to set an unreachable deadline for recounting ballots and deliver victory to George W. Bush.

Scalia's advice: ``Get over it.''

Like George Bailey

A lot of Democrats haven't, but Gore has. He's like George Bailey in ``It's a Wonderful Life,'' grateful for what he has. Appearing with Obama at a rally of 20,000 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit this week, Gore was looser and more exuberant than I remember him, cradling the microphone like Oprah. He used to be so wooden he dressed up like Frankenstein at his annual Halloween party to make the obvious joke.

Gore stood a few paces behind Obama for much of the night, a spot he's accustomed to. ``Elections matter,'' he kept repeating. ``If you think the next appointments to our Supreme Court are important, you know that elections matter. If you live in the city of New Orleans, you know that elections matter. If you or a member of your family are serving in active military, the National Guard or reserves, you know that elections matter.''

And to a lesser extent, appearances matter, and looking at the stage, the perfect vice president was on it. He's tall like Obama but more rooted to the ground, and I'm not talking about pounds. If there's anything Obama needs, it is an older, more tested, more solid version of himself.

No Baggage

Gore probably has a good tailor now, but he still doesn't look as smooth and put together as the Illinois senator. He's lost the sing-song voice, schlepping around the country giving PowerPoint presentations on the melting planet to civic groups. He's the only person other than Bill Clinton who could solidify the Democratic base, and he comes without the baggage.

And he's good on the ground. You know that if someone offers him a funnel cake in Pennsylvania he's going to say thank you and then eat the whole thing. He so enjoyed the local treats at the Iowa State Fair, I thought he might take a slice out of the butter sculpture depicting the Last Supper when he campaigned there.

The most important reason Gore should be vice president is that he's suffered and learned. He has the temperament some of us reach on our death beds. He could have fought on, but found honor in retreat. Gore, as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman observed, took a bullet for the country. After the most gracious concession speech possible, he barely spoke about what had happened.

Rewrote His Life

He took the toughest loss in political history as an occasion to rewrite his life. His first dream dashed, he didn't go sulk or have a midlife crisis, although he did grow a beard and a waistline. He reached for a second act suited to his gifts. His impressive engineer's mind hadn't invented the Internet, but he'd come closer than anyone else, as Newt Gingrich graciously and accurately pointed out.

He didn't discover global warming, but he sounded the alarm and got many skeptics and opponents to agree that attention had to be paid.

Even Senator John McCain, who wants to drill for oil off the U.S. coasts, is on board to address the issue.

If it's laughable that Gore would run for president, how much more laughable is it that he would consider for a nanosecond taking the vice presidency? Even if he were hungering for a comeback, it wouldn't be to play second banana again. Why would he do it?

Battle Tested

For the country. Why waste on investment banking what he knows from being a heartbeat away from the presidency? He's tested and steeped in foreign policy. An Academy Award is fine, but no movie can give you the platform that the vice presidency can for global warming. He could actually do something about it.

The country is desperate for a new workable energy policy. These gas prices can't go on, or they can but not if they don't spur a Manhattan Project to reduce our thirst for oil, most of it in the hands of our enemies. Gore has one.

Forget geography or winning Ohio or appealing to suburban women. For different reasons than McCain, Obama needs to reach for presidential timber. If there's anything we need to rescue us from the last eight years, it's brains, good judgment and experience. Obama has the first two. Gore has all three.

(Margaret Carlson, author of ``Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House'' and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Margaret Carlson in Washington at mcarlson3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 19, 2008 00:04 EDT