It's Dr. Dean for the Ds.
Howard Dean secures the leadership position for the Democratic National Committee. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton gets something interesting to do, where he can take all the love the W will never get.
Also, is the Pope on the ropes?
The BBC is now updated every minute. Neat.
posted by JAB at 8:50 PM
5 Comments:
I'm all for Dean as DNC chairman. The last thing I want to see is another mealy-mouthed no-op as party chair. I say: "Dean for Bad Cop!"
I completely concur - unlike say, oh, Terry McAulife, Dr. Dean is an appealing and engaging bad cop.
"Officer Dean you've broken every rule in the book. You've broken rules in books I haven't read. If you weren't such a great cop I'd bust you down to assistant meter maid!!"
There is plenty of room for disagreement about strategy, but I fall firmly on the aggressive populism side. Dean is a stealth centrist not afraid to also be a progressive populist. As a political strategy, (rather than as a presidential candidate), this is right on the money.
My call - dewussifying the Democratic party doesn't mean moving even more to mushy, well-this and well-that center. This is in fact our Achilles heel. The GOP has succeeded by moving far right of where most Americans are.
For us, it means standing up for most Americans with greater heart and drive, yet cutting loose routine programmatic ideology. We were killed this time almost solely on important but in some ways arcance social issues that were set deliberately as a bear trap to divide progressives from voters. And on these issues the American people are with us if you give them time, rather than humiliate them as rednecks for having understandable doubts.
(For example, we cannot and will not cave on abortion, but we don't need to. In a reverse play of the use of GOP "moderates," who put a face of reasonability on the great pile of proto-fascism, all we need to do is not silence those in the party who have doubts, listen politely, and search like hungry rats for tiny areas of commonality that we can take to the voters.)
We win with economic justice and evolving social kindness, a commitment to innovative and efficient defense, scaring people shitless about the environment in a way that connects to clear, participatory action, not humiliating ordinary people about their faith, and making every issue, every last one, partly about the deepest issue - whether we a democracy in our hearts, our spirits, our policies and habits, the living soul of freedom that sees something brighter and more real and more connected for Americans than "Welcome to Wal Mart."
That's ultimately all they have.
We must remember our considerable strength: this is NOT the Reagan era, it's not Nixon, it's not even Bush I. Fully half the country is on our side, as strong as I have ever seen it. If we act powerless we will be powerless. Barbara Boxer is showing us the way, and her incredible popularity vs. mushy middling Feinstein should give us a clue. Progessivism with leadership works.
Snivelling and cowering are stalking the Democratic party like two giant stalking things. We must be de-stalked.
Dean is the man.
Dean passes one important test with me. That is: "Would I go to war with him?". I would go to war with Dean. I still worry about the right's ability to paint him as a leftest psycho, but he can well defend himself.
I hope Dean screams.
I hope the Pope dies soon.
I hope someday I get to vote for the First Sea Lord.
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