Dean would be a great pick for HHS, but...

[Dawgs]

It's not fair to say that it was because he was the reason Obama was elected.

Obama won on his own. He might not have done as well without Dean's strategy, but he still would have kicked ass.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Yes, Obama - and any Dem would have won -

but the way Dean handled Florida was a huge block for Obama.

But he is NOT the reason Obama got elected.

[democrattotheend]

8. Oh, come on

Are we really going to refight the primaries again?

[Captain Hilts]

10. No.

I said Obama would have won anyway. How's that "refighting the primaries?"

[SunsetDreams]

12. As much as I would like to believe that..

none of us know if ANY Dem would have been elected.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

15. I can think of two who would have had a tough time. But who cares, Obama made history and . . .

that's all that matters.

[wroberts189]

2. Fair enough ...but he sure helped a lot the last two elections without debate. nt

[Dawgs]

5. Absolutely agree.

:hi:

[Captain Hilts]

11. GW Bush helped a GREAT deal. nt

[Fleshdancer]

3. I don't think Dean was the reason for Obama's win....

but I think Dean's campaign took grassroots to a whole new level and Obama's campaign was smart enough to utilize those concepts and run with it so to speak.

I do think Dean's work in the DNC is the reason for our majority in Congress.

[camera obscura]

4. Without Dean he would have had a harder time in VA, NC, IN, NE-1, etc

[Dawgs]

6. Agree, but Obama still would have won big.

I'm not taking anything away from Dean. He's the reason we have such a large majority in Congress. I just don't think we need to pretend that Dean was the reason Obama won.

Dean doesn't need it. He's more than qualified for HHS without this false meme.

[Larkspur]

7. Obama picked up where Dean's campaign left off

Axelrod used Joe Trippi's book about how the Dean's campaign used the Internet to build a community in his political science class before he joined Obama's Prez team. Obama's campaign name "Obama for America" is lifted right off of Dean's campaign -- "Dean for America". Obama is a better public speaker than Dean, had a better and more experienced campaign team than Dean, and had more help from inside the Beltway types, like Daschle, to not get sabotaged by the Dem Establishment, like Dean was. Dean's campaign combined with the loss by Kerry, who was the Dem Establishment's choice, helped Obama gain the confidence of Iowans, who had once backed Dean but fell for Kerry in the 2004 caucus.

Dean deserves HHS because as governor he helped build prototype health care solutions in Vermont that have been used by other states and can be used by a national health care system. Dean advocated for health care to concentrate more on preventive methods than on triaging problems after they happen. He wants people to get regular checkups and screenings that can find problems early on when they are cheaper to fix.

Dean is not a single payer advocate. He thinks single payer is a long term goal and that we will need a mix of public and private health care plans right now. Dean is a pragmatist and if single payer advocacy groups can prove beyond a doubt that single payer is the best course and a course we can do now, Dean would be open to changing his mind. Dean is not an ideologue and unlike Daschle is not a walking Conflicts of Interest liability. Dean also has not had nanny problems and has had no tax evasion issues.

[Dawgs]

9. Agree.

[Thrill]

13. Dean won't get it because the HHS is going to have to be able to work with Repukes

And the Repukes can't stand him.

[Larkspur]

16. Howard worked with Repukes when he was governor of Vermont

and moderate Republicans supported Dean in 2003-4. It's the Repuke fanatics that can't stand him because he told the truth about them.

When Howard was governor of Vermont he created the prototype health care programs that other states copied and can be the foundation for a national health care system. He is an advocate for preventive health care. I have confidence in Dean that once he talks about his favorite subject -- health care -- the moderate Republicans will support Dean and leave their extremist brethren gnashing and grinding their teeth.

Dean chose to run for Prez in 2003-4 initially because he wanted to make health care an issue front and center. He stumbled upon becoming the leader of the Dem Party for a short time because Dems like Daschle created a leadership vacuum within the Party over the Iraq War and because they got in the rut of rolling over and caving into Bush's and the Repukes scams. Only the extremist idealogue Repukes will fight Dean.

Also as DNC Chair, Dean did not make any major flubs in public. He knows the press and the Congressional leaders and many Congressional members like and will help Dean with healthcare. It's not like he's a neophyte politician.

The progressive Netroots helped push Dean into the DNC Chair, a position he originally did not seek. The progressive Netroots has already started making the case for Dean as HHS. Howard Dean is the best man for the HHS job.

[Radical Activist]

14. Obama was incorporating community organizing principles

into his previous campaigns long before Joe Trippi told Dean that he could win votes in Iowa by sounding like an anti-war populist. Dean was netroots organizing 101. Obama ran the Masters program.

And let's not forget that Obama shut down the DNC office in Washington and brought it all under his control in Chicago as soon as the primary was over.

The 50 state strategy is an important party building activity that likely paid off at the local level. But its impact on the Presidential race was negligible. Obama's campaign would have won and operated the same way regardless of who the DNC chair had been.

[Larkspur]

17. But Dean's strategy helped paved the way for Obama

Obama didn't have to create a lot. He borrowed a lot from the old Dean campaign and from the 2004-06 Congressional successes. Obama's campaign name -- Obama for America came directly from Dean for America.

Obama's campaign perfected what Dean started. Dean was on the right track in 2003-4, he just didn't have the experienced campaign people that Obama got. Couple Dean's campaign with Kerry's loss and without those 2 things, Obama would not have had a chance against Hillary. Kerry's loss after the Clintonites in 2004 persuaded local Dems to support Kerry because Kerry's military background was suppose to be an ace against Bush left a bitter taste in many Dems mouths and left them open to taking a chance on someone like Obama.