Dr. Dean laughs last (a view from the right)

[cali]

By Salena Zito
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, November 9, 2008

The joke among Republicans when Howard Dean became chairman of the Democratic National Committee was that Howard Dean had become the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

They saw the brash, unorthodox, failed presidential candidate from the tiny state of Vermont as a gift that would keep on giving. What they got instead was a low-key party-builder with a bold idea to place money and people on the ground in ruby-red states that Democrats typically wrote off.

That Republican "joke" greatly facilitated President Barack H. Obama's victory Tuesday night.

<snip>

But the ground game and Internet network would not have existed if Howard Dean had not pioneered them. The whole model for Obama's campaign was Dean's; Obama even brought the 2004 Dean campaign's Internet team to Chicago to build his own network.

<snip>

He did not make a lot of friends along the way. The clashes between him and then-chairman of the Democrats' congressional campaign, Rahm Emanuel, were spectacular during the 2006 mid-term elections. Both wanted the same outcome -- a midterm sweep of Congress -- yet disagreed over the path to get there. Emanuel wanted to stick to targeted districts; Dean fought for possible wins in Bush-weakened swing districts.

Dean prevailed, and so did the Democrats.

Dean's strategy was an investment strategy. His assumption was that if you get locked into a rigid blue state/red state map, you will have no room to spare. Consequently, you should invest in a strategy that has a higher probability of yielding a surplus, even if it carries a higher probability of not meeting your minimum target in the short run.

Rockman believes Dean ultimately was right. The proof is the president-elect with a healthy Democratic Congress as his wingman on policy and on the courts.

<snip>

Throughout the campaign, Republicans were stunned by Dean's strange silence, but that is what a good party chairman does. And that is what Dean ultimately became; he never became the joke his detractors expected.

Now that Democrats have won, the DNC chair will answer to whoever becomes the Obama White House's political director, making this the time for Dean to exit his post.

So, what should be next for the good doctor from Vermont, who as governor held the distinction of having more constituents with health-care coverage than any other governor in the union? A man who was, yes, a moderate, fiscally conservative chief executive, despite the image most people have of him?

If President-elect Obama is as serious about health care as he claimed to be on the campaign trail, Dr. Dean may become his health-care czar at the Department of Health and Human Services.

<snip>

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/zito/s_597420.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. In the fullness of time...

Dr, Dean will be judged warmly by history. He did what many, including those in his own party, thought impossible: He saved it, rebuilt it and brought it back to primacy, even in the face of stiff opposition from his own members and contributors.

[malaise]

4. He is already judged warmly

by all rational people.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. Ahh, yes he is.

But within the beltway, he quietly and methodically upset some lucrative apple carts and gored some sacred oxen. That left him with a lot of detractors, even amongst those on "our side". I heard it with my own ears after the 2004 elections, when I was involved with an inside-the-beltway initiative that was long on big and recognizable names but short on results and grasp on normative reality.

The fact is, the old "red-blue" partitioning model of the nation made a lot of people a lot of money, because it relied on putative "regional strategists" who were quite content to be the goto people in a certain region at election time. By going 50 State, and actually using people who lived in that area and intimately knew conditions and issues on the ground, it left a lot of rather smug and complacent pricks on the outside looking in. Thus, the Dean pushback within Dem ranks.

Know this: We progressives, we populists, we people on the ground have very few real friends within the Beltway class. They are an smug, smarmy, self-important, incestuous and elitist bunch. They see us as the unwashed, the ignorant, people divorced from the true realities. Even in the putative progressive ranks, there is a real Straussian vein that runs deeply through everything.

[PassingFair]

12. We ARE divorced from THEIR realities.

I don't give a DAMN about their jobs, or
their status or whether or not they can
afford a brownstone on a trendy avenue.

We want representation of the PEOPLE.

I HOPE we get it.

The choice of Rahm Emanuel is NOT heartening in
that direction.

I personally hope that Dean will go back to
head DFA with his brother, and PUSH for the
ultimate goal of progressive leadership in
the party.

As far as I'M concerned, the plan has ALWAYS
been:

FIRST, we get rid of the Republicans;

THEN, we get rid of the enablers and collaborators
and rip-off artists (are you listening, Diane Feinstein?)
from within our own ranks.

I want a party I don't have to make apologies for,
and Gov. Dean epitomizes that possibility.

[Mari333]

13. thats a really good post. n/t

[EFerrari]

14. Yep. And every now and then, that streak bubbles up in public

as when Nancy Pelosi decided I wasn't her contituent and said so to the press. Oops.

What in the world would we have done without Howard Dean.

[Soup Bean]

15. I wonder if the Clintons blame Dean for their narrow loss? n/t

[liberalhistorian]

2. Excellent analysis and very

true! I met the good doctor at an appearance in Rapid City, SD, a couple of years ago and was very impressed. He has a very dynamic demeanor, but also possesses substance, depth and strategic and tactical knowledge and abilities. We couldn't have asked for a better chairman during the past several years. I hope he will now finally be taken very seriously by both parties.

That would be fantastic if he were deeply involved in health care issues at HHS!

[FARAFIELD]

3. Unfortunately Dr. Deans license lapsed

He talked about it right before he took over the DNC. But still he could reinstate it. ETC

[cali]

5. I'm not clear on what that has to do with anything. Obviously,

he doesn't need a medical license to be Sec of HHS, and his not having it doesn't negate his medical background. He's trained in scientific thinking and he has a long managerial history of large entities.

[madfloridian]

7. There has been more respect for him since the election from the right...

than from our own party leaders.

[midnight]

8. We have so much graditutude for this intelligent man.....

Thank you so much Howard Dean....

[crispini]

9. Loveya Howard Dean.

You are the MAN!

[depakid]

10. I remember a cold February day, a long time ago where on CSPAN I heard

someone I'd never seen before say: "I'm Howard Dean, and I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party."

[Lugnut]

11. I used that quote as my sig line here.

Now might be the perfect time to resurrect it. Howard Dean was right then and he's right now. I'm still a Deaniac.

[Cha]

16. Dean's vision has

been there for us for so long.

The corporatemedia thought they were eliminating Dean but it just made us stronger.