People Power-Another Rant on Little Caesar, the Doctor and the General

[gully]

"My point is, the Democratic nominating contest is essentially about determining the nature of that party, not the "electability" question. Howard Dean represents anti-establishment insurrection from the ground up. His popularity is not about left or right issues (as the media and his opponents keep claiming) but rides upon the swelling anger people feel toward Bush and the Dems' own complacent, top-down, risk-averse, corporate-compromised leadership. The press is still on Dean's case, picking away at his supposed contradictions. But the Washington Post fronted an insightful counter-version by Laura Blumenfeld (October 1) that explains Dean's empowering language and angle of vision. It's not about him, he tells voters, it's about them -- all the people who feel ignored and disenfranchised, not only by Bush the right-winger. but by their own party's Washington elites."

"Who could be against that? The Democratic incumbency. The last thing they want in their lives is competitive elections or citizens who come out of the woodwork to launch their own techno-grassroots campaigns. Yes, incumbent Dems all want Bush out, but they would much prefer it's done by a safer, more reliable candidate.

General Clark? I don't mean to pick on him but he seems the perfect vessel for conveying a "new face" sense of change without actually disturbing the status quo. A number of fellow bloggers accused me of seeing black helicopters when I earlier described Clark as the Clinton establishment's stalking horse . But that is self-evident now that Clark is an active candidate. Mr. Bill's Hollywood friends are swarming around the General with money; his campaign is run by Clintonoids. The General's tepid economic-stimulus plan is off-the-shelf stuff from the Democratic Leadership Council. He is being tutored on economics by Citigroup godfather Robert Rubin and Gene Sperling, the DLC's economist in chief.

If you want four more years of Wall Street economics guiding the Democratic party, go with the Four Stars. If you are ready for risk and real change, listen to the Doctor. People who put aside convictions in order to win an election often wind up regretting it. I know I did during Bill Clinton's presidency."

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1002-02.htm

*I agree with this assessment of the Dean/Clark situation, but the author did lose me on the Cali recall issue. I don't think that discredits his position on the Presidential election however*

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

1. Howard Dean is the status quo

When the election is over his speeches will need to be re-written to support the Democratic incumbents that will be part of his administration.

Does anyone think Dean's going to hire a bunch of liberal academics to the Defense Department?

[even]

2. Common dreams

is mostly a green hole. Dream peddling LOSERS.

[gully]

4. Oh now, is that what you say about Michael Moore?

naaah.

[wtmusic]

11. What's your take, even?

I'd like to hear the answer from a *winner* like you...

[gully]

3. You missed the point, thanks anyhoo....

:freak:

[maha]

7. John Kerry is the status quo.

Dean was opposed to the war way before being against he war was "cool."

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

9. Dean is only opposed to the CURRENT war, but supported all the others

right?

There is nothing more hypocritical in the Democratic party right now than the "anti-war" stance.

Where were the anti-war activists when Clinton was bombing Iraq once a week?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. It

the narcissism of small difference on a grand stage....

These guys would have you believe Norman Thomas is running against Barry Goldwater....

ROTFLMFAO

[wtmusic]

13. Unfortunately Dean never claimed to be antiwar

So learn some facts before you start throwing around that big *hypocritical* charge.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

16. Dean's not the hypocrite, Democratic "anti-war" people are

Dean never pretended to be anything other than the conservative small time politician that he is. It's his supporters that like to pretend he's the leader of a new anti-war movement.

The Democrats here were asleep as the sanctions killed millions and Clinton bombed Iraq everyday. Now that a Republican is doing it, and getting lots of propaganda points as a "popular War Time President" - all of a sudden Democrats are anti-war again.

Rank Hypocrisy.

[wtmusic]

17. It's called invading a sovereign nation without provocation

Different issue.

Rank ignorance.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

19. invading as opposed to bombing?

Bombing doesn't count as invasion? I believe that counts as an invasion of air space.

[wtmusic]

20. To stop a genocide in progress

And the US did not occupy the country, and the bombing had UN and NATO support.

If you can't see the difference I can't help.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Same Stimulus..... Same Response.....

There is not a dimes worth of difference on the really big issues of the day between Mr.'s Gephardt, Graham, Edwards, Kerry, Dean, Clark, and to a lesser but not great extent Lieberman... They all adhere to the same center left capitalist dogma that dominates the Democratic party.... This is a hell of alot better than the Social Darwinism that 's practiced in the R party but none of these guys are going to fundamentally shake up the status quo and seriously challenge big business' privileged position....

To suggest otherwise betrays a political naievete bodering on political infantilism or seroiusly stunted political maturity....

So go with the Dem who was the best chance of beating *....

The only Dems who offer a fundamentally different path are Dennis Kucinich, Al Sharpton, and Carol Moseley Braun but they are not where the action is....

[trogdor]

10. liberal academics in DoD?

I certainly hope not. The last one of those we had was Les Aspin (God bless him), and that was a disaster. Clinton had to go to the other side for his next defense secretary, someone as mild as baby food - like the Republican version of Alan Colmes.

[ozone_man]

5. Dean is people power. Time to throw off the DLC chains.

All you have to do is look at the number (large) and size of the Dean contributions (small) to understand that.

[LoneStarLiberal]

6. Good Piece

I've commented elsewhere that the battle shaping up between the Dean and Clark campaigns is not a battle of left vs. right, but rather a battle of liberals versus moderates in a very different sense than what we usually discuss. In this context I mean "liberals" to be those who are agitating for change not just in the Oval Office but change in the Democratic Party. By "moderates" I mean those who want change in the Oval Office and are not that interested in change elsewhere.

I do think the author has hit upon something in terms of this being an establishment versus revolutionary campaign. It is shaping up to be a battle, at least for the time being, for the soul of the Democratic Party.

If this was a true battle for the soul of the party, I would side with Howard Dean. If there was a plan to completely remake the Democratic Party and, by extension, the American political establishment, then I would side with Howard Dean.

But to my knowledge there are no such plans. It's more of the "we're revolutionary and we're going to change everything without any plans." No thanks. If you can't show me where you are going with such a big message, I'm not interested in wandering through the wilderness with you because you don't have a map.

Edit: I would be interested to see if anyone has any links to official information about reforming the Democratic Party coming from the Dean campaign. I find it a little hard to believe that he carries such a populist message without having a bigger plan for remaking the Democratic Party. Thanks!

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

14. That battle is over, and the liberals lost

the moderates won.

There was a brief fight between the liberals and moderates - but Kucinich never got over one or two percent, and the moderate Howard Dean was chosen as the frontrunner. Now it's just a matter of which moderates - Kerry, Dean, Clark - are going to be Pres, VP, or cabinet.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. It's All Marketing

Same Coke.... Different Bottle.....


New and Different.....


What did P T Barnum say?

LOL

[JNelson6563]

18. That is the jist of it!

Howard Dean represents anti-establishment insurrection from the ground up. His popularity is not about left or right issues (as the media and his opponents keep claiming) but rides upon the swelling anger people feel toward Bush and the Dems' own complacent, top-down, risk-averse, corporate-compromised leadership.

The people are awakening and they are angry at the mess they are finding. Some of us have been getting angry for a very long time. None of the Dem leaders in Congress (aside from the often overlooked DK)that I recall speaking loudly, along the lines that I was thinking, is running for President.

Dean gave voice to a lot of angry and seemingly voiceless folks.

He has got executive experience as a former Governor and is not as left as Kucinich. I think too that him being a physician gives him credibility on the healthcare front, a growing problem that has been unsolvable thus far.

All the others running are basically considered establishment and thus associated with the frustrating complacency that has resulted in the mess we find ourselves in now.

Just my $.0125

Julie