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This Is What Democracy Looks Like
www.NationalView.org's Note From a Madman
December 3, 2008
Team Dean's Dream
"I think if (Democrats) have a true death wish, he'd (Howard Dean) be the
perfect guy to go with,"
-former House Majority Leader Newt Gingrich (REPUBLICAN-GA)
The statement above by Gingrich was half-right: Howard Dean was the "perfect guy
to go with" for the Democrats. After the loss John Kerry loss in 2004, the
Democrats had the look of a party in need of an identity transplant. And
although Dean might have been considered to "Liberal" (a dirty word in 2004)
back then to become the Democratic Presidential nominee, it turns out that he
was the perfect guy to turn his party inside out.
"Republicans wandered around in the political wilderness for 40 years before
they took back Congress... The American people cannot afford to wait for 40 more
years for us to put Washington back to work for them."
-Dean, as a part of his DNC Chairman's acceptance speech in 2005
Dean took the DNC and their minorities in both houses out of the wilderness and
took them right down to the Mall in DC.
Dean detractors will say that no matter who was in charge of the Democratic
Party these past few years would have reaped the benefits of the rewards
bestowed upon them by the worst administration in the past 80 years. But those
of us familiar with the Democratic Party know better. The old (pre-Dean)
Democratic Party would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory even when victory
seemed assured. Both Kerry and 2000's loser Al Gore come to mind when thinking
of the most recent past failures.
The Democrats were a group which used to toss away votes and voters simply
because they felt that the only way they could win an election was to
concentrate their efforts in a narrow way. States such as Indiana, North
Carolina and Virginia were Red and not going to change just because times were
bad was the conventional thinking, so why bother to run in those states.
The fifty state strategy used so brilliantly by then-Senator Barack Obama (now
President-Elect Barack Obama) was pioneered by Dean and the soon-to-be President
Obama owes the fiery ex-Governor, Doctor and head man at the DNC a huge bit of
thanks.
Does anyone really think that Obama's chances weren't increased by Dean's
promise to be competitive in all fifty states? Sure, President-Elect Obama made
all the right decisions on staffing, fund-raising and just about everything else
he did during his run for the Oval Office, but it was Dean and his dogged
determination which paved the way.
"If we stand up for what we believe in, organize at the local level, and
recognize that strength does not come from the consultants down. It comes from
the grass roots up,"
-Dean, again from his acceptance speech
Today, twenty-eight of fifty US State's Governors are members of the Democratic
Party and they hold these executive positions in Red as well as Blue America.
Even Red-America states such as Kansas and Tennessee have popular Democrats in
office (Kathleen Sebelius and Bernie Bredesen, respectively), both of whom are
in their second terms. And whereas Dean wasn't the DNC Chairman when each were
originally elected, with someone else out there running things, their futures
might not have been so bright.
President-Elect Obama should take this opportunity and offer Dean a position in
his Cabinet. As a medical doctor, the former Governor of Vermont appears to be a
natural to head HHS, the Department of Health and Human Services (apparently
earmarked for former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle). Perhaps Dean could
become the Surgeon General, a Cabinet-like position, but not one with a seat at
the big table.
And Dean deserves that seat.
As it stands today, Howard Dean's reward is his being right. If President-Elect
Obama people who will speak their minds and be that disagreeable soul he so
desires in his White House, then Howard Dean is the man for him.
Maybe the view from those seats are good enough for Governor Dean, but he deserves more.
-Noah Greenberg
In response to Condoleezza Rice's pointing fingers at Pakistan for the India
massacre, Lew Warden writes:
You’re an idiot, Noah, dedicated to making a mountain out of nothing, blaming
Rice/Bush for a conflict that has endured for a thousand years.
It's fuel to an already burning fire and the words she used were
unnecessary...
Even an idiot like me can see that. -NG
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-Noah Greenberg