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New Yorker Profile on Howard DeanDean’s abstinence from personal revelation was just one way that he had discombobulated the Party leadership’s assumptions about how to reclaim the White House. He stridently rejected the forever-glancing-over-the-shoulder centrist calculations that had defined the Democratic Party establishment since the advent of the Clinton era; he wasn’t from the South; he almost never spoke about faith (“I don’t go to church very often,” he announced in a debate in November); he’d become a free-trade dissenter; he didn’t target his speeches directly at aging, affluent suburbanites. Nevertheless, his heretical choices about what to say (and what not to say) had somehow propelled him to the top of the heap. It was a trajectory that even Dean seemed not to have foreseen. “This campaign is not about me—this is a movement” was one of his catchphrases, uttered with a matter-of-factness that sounded as if he actually believed it. Watching the race unfold, one assumed that he also instinctively trusted serendipity. Indeed, the evidence of Dean’s career thus far was that, as bold, hardworking, and opportunistic a politician as he obviously was, a key component of his success had been his preternatural good luck.You take the good, you take the bad, etc. This is one of the better profiles of Howard Dean I've read. It bluntly points out his weaknesses, unapologetically states his strengths, and convinced me for a third time that Howard Dean is the right man to be President of th United States.
Regarding the recent attacksThe result of such assaults has been the opposite of Dean’s critics’ intentions, however—a highly remunerative jujitsu. Lieberman’s constant gibes, in particular, have confirmed to many voters that Dean is an authentic rebel against the Democratic establishment.Regarding his ideologyActually, I did, but the responses implied that his actions weren’t guided by abstract convictions: “Howard’s success wasn’t a function of ideology. I’ve never seen a politician who had a better grasp of the needs and desires of voters. To say that he governs by winging it may be a little glib—but there are no focus groups to help him figure out his positions. He read the New York Times every morning and went out and ran Vermont, and ninety-nine per cent of the time he did it beautifully.” Or: “I have no idea, except that I think it’s incredibly pragmatic. It’s a little better than ‘whatever works.’ It’s not that cynical. It’s results-oriented.”
When I pressed Dean for a self-definition, he said, “I think the best way, if you want to put me in a box, is to say ‘fiscally conservative, socially progressive.’ But when you drill down, my ideology is not easily characterized in a small amount of words.”There is a lot of stuff here for those who dislike Dean, but since I'm not in that camp, I'm not going to post those snippets.
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