I rather like Broder's column tonight. He makes good points.

[madfloridian]

I have been trying to put some of this into words but was sure how to do it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30955-2005Feb16.html

SNIP.."While launching a few darts in the direction of the Bush administration, Dean was careful not to jar the sensibilities or raise the hackles of any Democratic faction. The man who campaigned in 2003 as the voice of grass-roots activists frustrated by what he called the timidity of their Beltway-bound leadership settled into his new role as head of the party establishment as if he'd been groomed for the job.

The reality, as he knew better than anyone in the Hilton ballroom, is that he was about the last person most of the big players -- the unions, the donors and especially the elected officials -- wanted in command. But the power brokers couldn't agree on a candidate of their own, so Dean won without owing any of them much of anything."

SNIP.." His stated inclination to leave the policy pronouncements to elected officials will not be easy for a man of his pronounced views to maintain over a four-year stretch. And there is a potential cost for Democrats if Dean truly tries to foreclose giving the party its own policy voice.

Congressional leaders necessarily trim their views to meet immediate tactical needs. That's why, for example, Capitol Hill Democrats are withholding any Social Security rescue plan of their own until President Bush spells out his own proposal.

But the party needs a longer-term and broader perspective, one that includes and reflects the experience of state and local officials as well as Washington voices. The party chairman is the right person to organize such a policy council, and if Dean doesn't do it, it probably will not get done. Diffidence may be momentarily reassuring, but it is not a long-term posture for success....."

I think he is saying not to actually set policy, but to organize the state and local officials to do so. If not it might not get done. He worded it better than I have been able to do.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. That is what many have said is Dean's strong point, the state and local

organizing that he will do. Getting the grassroots involved and active.

[madfloridian]

2. And I rather agree on the point Broder makes about organizing.....

for the purpose of setting agenda and policy.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

3. If the grassroots movement is behind the success of the party....

then we the people control the agenda and the party!

:dem: :kick:

[Eloriel]

4. Good point. Here's my thinking

I think the DNC Chair ought to be heavily involved in determining electoral strategy (naturally) but also political strategy in general. Eventually, that touches on policy. I don't know that he (alone) ought to "set" policy (tho I personally would be entirely comfortable with that), but I do think he ought to be nudging it, and lobbying Reid and Pelosi and others to serve a broader political strategy.

Because we HAVE none. No political strategy. And we need one. And then we need everyone on baord. I never thought we need the same kind of "discipline" the Repugs have, but we need something in between their lockstop robotic performance and our current and historic utter lack of discipline and cohesiveness.

[madfloridian]

5. You made some good points about finding a middle road.

I liked the way you described the lockstop robotics and our lack of cohesiveness.

As time goes on, I think Dean is planning a more organized war room type of thing. I don't like them, but I think we need something badly now.

[DemocracyInaction]

6. It's hard to organize a mad house that's on a sugar high!!!

If Dean is to organize this party he would have to start by taking the Congressional Dems by the neck and insisting that we come up with at least 3-4 snappy lines that describe what we are about and their promise to fight for those 'ideals' every time a mike is shoved in their face. In other words, if he isn't setting policy, he needs to goddamn get one in place soon. Then he can go out into the trenches and get the grassroots and local parties rallied around that "policy", that "cause". The Repubs were great at this. They didn't have fourteen thousand different policies. They got it down to things like guns, gays and God. In order to put your house in order, you first have to get together a broom, a vacuum cleaner, and a dust cloth before you attack theplace.