The Accidental Populist: Howard Dean vs. the democratic establishment

[Karmadillo]

This is from an essay by Steve Perry. The excerpts below don't do it justice, so you might want to click on the link and read all the way through (it's not that long). I think Perry is right about the Democrats being able to fairly successfully campaign on the populist issues Dean raised in his South Carolina speech, but I think he's also right in noting it's not at all likely to happen. Given the national and global catastrophes awaiting us, that's nothing short of a tragedy.

http://www.citypages.com/databank/24/1204/article11790.asp

On December 7, Howard Dean delivered an amazing and almost universally ignored speech on race, money, and American politics to a gathering in Columbia, South Carolina. Dean was on hand for two reasons--to atone for his suddenly notorious offhand remark that he wanted to be "the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks," and to seek a primary-season coup in the backyard of rival John Edwards, whose campaign sputters more with each passing day. What he offered up was an obvious but officially verboten blueprint for a different kind of national political campaign...

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The grand irony in the case of Howard Dean vs. the Democratic Leadership Council is that it's not at all clear that Dean ever seriously meant to take on the Democratic party establishment, or that he will even carry through with the battle. He talked a tough anti-establishment line out of the gate, yes, but that was the smart outsider play, and Dean's candidacy had struck party sultans as a bit of trivia from the start. As governor of Vermont and already as a presidential aspirant, Dean has tended to speak boldly first and tack practically to the right when under fire. It isn't hard to imagine his fashioning a rapprochement with the party elite as his campaign flourished.

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First, a serious run at taking over the party machine would oblige Dean to keep running against his own party not just through primary season but the general election as well. In that sense it would be very much like McGovern and '72 all over again--remember "Democrats for Nixon" and the more sub rosa means the Democrats used to undermine McGovern? To have any hope at all of winning such a race, Dean would have to take his Columbia speech on economic justice for all and make it the holy writ of his campaign. He would have to break the first covenant of our dysfunctional political family, which is never to involve outsiders in family business. The dirty little secret of the me-too Democrats is that they are really no more keen on appealing to "nontraditional voters" (traditional nonvoters, that is) than Republicans. And according to the Washington Post, Republican functionaries are beginning to grow scared of Dean's capacity to do just that.

Second, you can probably forget nearly everything in the foregoing paragraph, because the chances that Dean will pick such an audacious course and stick to it are surpassingly slim. The presumptive philosopher king of Dean's epic confrontation with the DLC, after all, is Albert Gore Jr. It's not hard to believe that Gore would like to seize the party apparatus from Clinton & Friends, but why should anyone get excited about the prospect of what he might do with it?

more...

[Armstead]

1. An important point

That article is missing one key ingredient.

It implies that the speech was a "one-off," something he came up with to attone for his Confederate flag remark. Also that it was crafted to pander specifically to South Caroline voters, in yet another bit of Dean slickterism.

THE FACT IS that the segment Perry quoted has long been one of Dean's basic stump speeches. This HAS been the basic message and blureprint of his campaign from the beginning. It is exactly what he has been saying all along (mionus the Confederate flag remark).

That is why his supporters are so enthusiastic. It resonates.

Yes Dean is a politician, and moderate and he will flirt with the party insiders too. That is why he must be carefully watched. BUT the message -- and I believe he is being straight -- is very much one that CAN BE the basis of a successful MAINSTREAM Democratic Party agenda, if the goddamn Washingtonsiders would shake the cobwebs oput of their stale heads.

[BJ]

2. Do Kerry, Lieberman, Gephardt really WANT to defeat Bush?

I have this growing suspision that the Democratic Party establishment really dosen't want to challenge Bush.

Why?

Because DoD, not to mention related "homeland security",spending is up, up, up in their states. Keep the IAM happy in St. Louis, Mass. and Con., defense contractor stocks healthy and your seat in the House or Senate.

[Karmadillo]

3. Kick

n/t