Dean Endorses Bill Daley, Rips Outgoing Obama Aides For 'Contempt'

[ProSense]

Sam Stein

Dean Endorses Bill Daley, Rips Outgoing Obama Aides For 'Contempt'

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean took broad swipes at what he called the "contempt" of some senior, departing White House advisers while, curiously, praising the possibility of former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley taking over as chief of staff.

Speaking at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast series, the former Vermont governor said he expected President Barack Obama's sometimes-rocky relationship with his base to improve once the aides who accompanied him to office left his administration. The problem, Dean stressed, was not that the president's policies had failed an ideological litmus test, but that he had surrounded by insiders who were dismissive of progressives and failed to change the business of governance.

<...>

As a curious coda to his indictment of outgoing Obama hands, Dean lauded the prospect of Daley taking over the reins of White House operations. Hardly an Obama outsider, Daley has spent decades shuttling in and out of the world of Washington -- profiting from the connections he made and the stature he gained. He also has been an opponent of two chief components of the president's agenda, health care reform and a consumer financial protection agency. But Dean said that his ascendancy to the chief of staff role would be a positive development, in the process giving Daley the type of progressive validater that he has so far lacked.

"I don't agree with (him) on a lot of stuff politically, but I do think -- A, he is a grownup and B, he gets that you don't treat people like you know everything and they don't," said Dean. "If Bill Daley becomes the chief of staff, that is going to be a huge plus because he is outside of Washington, he sees things the way people outside Washington do. It is not a left or right issue."

I'd prefer to see someone other than Daley.

[Tippy]

1. Bill Daley is a good man for the job but Dean is wrong

About this being a left or right issue...it is just that.

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. Really?

There is no news here. Does anyone seriously think Dr. Dean would pre-emptively savage the new Chief of Staff in the press? This is politics 101 and hardly surprising.

[wndycty]

3. Oh boy, how long before Dean is thrown under the bus for this

:kick:

[okieinpain]

26. haha that's what I was wondering, n/t.

[Laelth]

4. Dean is giving Daley the benefit of the doubt.

Let us hope that Daley lives up to Dean's expectations.

-Laelth

[flpoljunkie]

6. Let us hope that Obama is, indeed, 'his own man.'

[Arkana]

9. Well, Sotomayor and Kagan have defied all expectations.

Perhaps Daley will do the same.

[Divine Discontent]

19. +1!

[dkf]

5. Anyone doubt Dean likes Daley more than Rahm?

ABR for Dr. Dean.

[monmouth]

7. I don't think Dean likes Axelrod very much either....n/t

[dkf]

15. Well they all managed to destroy his work.

Pretty frustrating.

[Uzybone]

8. Dean is fast becoming just another pundit

statements are all over the map.

He needs to run for something.

[frazzled]

11. for the hills?

[JamesA1102]

12. He's becoming the left's Dick Cheney

The guy that refuses to go home and retire.

[Fire1]

10. I do agree that he surrounded himself with the wrong people. n/t

[vaberella]

41. We surrounded him with the wrong people. Congress is his real problem.

Not his staff. If Congress wasn't a problem then his staff would NEVER have been a problem.

[Top Cat]

13. Dean has a problem with the entire admin.

If he's not carefully he will get the same label as crazy ASS McCain.. Never has anything positive to say about the admin. I wonder why?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

14. So, I ask DU, how's that "progressive movement" that Dean was supposed to start going for you?

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jakes Progress]

21. So,, I ask you. What have you got against DU and the progressive movement?

Read the damned article. This was not praise for Daley, but a shot at rahm. But you knew that didn't you?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

25. LOL! I don't have anything against DU. I have everything against irrational

and hysterical people on DU. And I'm a member of the "progressive movement."

And yes, it is common knowledge that Dean and Rahm hated each other. I'm well aware of that and don't need a "damned article" to tell me that. Still, it doesn't negate the fact that Dean has respect for Daley. The point is that Dean was never and is not as "progressive" as many of DU think he is. So, this nonsense about Dean starting a "progressive movement" is hogwash! Howard Dean is a Democrat. He is loyal to the Democratic Party. And that includes not just progressives, but moderates and conservatives as well. While he may not align himself with the Blue Dogs, he believes that they are still Democrats. Period.

[Jakes Progress]

27. Then why attack them?

Your post didn't make any reference to a particular group. Your snark suggested that DU was stupid. You asked DU how trusting Dean was working out for them. Care to modify your post? I know that details get in the way of a good snark, but you could at least acknowledge that the article in the OP doesn't represent a ringing endorsement for Daley by Dean. You seem to just respond to headlines and avoid reading the "damned article" that you want to comment on.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

30. Melodramatic much? You read too much into that post.

Nope, I don't care to modify anything. I made my point. If it doesn't apply to you, then stop worrying.

[brentspeak]

32. Sounds like you're sputtering, melting, flailing about

Two posts to respond to another poster's single post: who's the one who sounds "worried" and "melodramatic"?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

38. I really don't know what you're talking about.

I've plainly stated where I stand on this.

Point 1: Howard Dean endorsed Mr. Daley! I heard it with my own two ears! TWICE!
Point 2: Howard Dean WILL NOT start some kind of progressive movement! He is a Democrat!
Point 3: For *SOME* DUers to suggest that he should start a movement such as this when he's a committed Democrat is irrational!

I did not call the *entire membership* of Democratic Underground stupid! I call ONLY those who are going down this road, explicitly arguing for a challenge to the Democratic Party, irrational and hysterical! I never used the word stupid! Not to mention, it violates a very specific rule of this forum.

I stand by that argument.

[Jakes Progress]

34. Avoidance issues much. You don't read the posts your reply to at all.

I'm not worrying. You screwed up. All of us do it sometimes. Some cop to the error and try to fix our mistakes. Others just flip off. We see where you are coming from.

You made no point about the issue of the OP.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

31. By the way, Dean was on the Ed Schultz Show tonight and he plainly

endorsed Daly this evening. I heard it straight from Dean's mouth, not some article.

And please, let's be clear: I am a huge Dean fan and supported him in 2004. He was the most progressive Democrat in the primaries, but he is not much more progressive than Obama.

[Jakes Progress]

35. So why attack DU and progressives?

You should write what you mean or try to fix it. Here you clarify that you are a Dean fan. Above you said you were a progressive. But then you say that Dean is no more progressive than Obama.

Don't tell people not to read too much into a post when you don't write what you mean.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

37. I'm NOT attacking DU and progressives. I'm attacking the irrationality

of calling for Dean to start a progressive movment when he's not going to do it! He's a devoted Democrat! That's my argument! PERIOD. So if SOME PEOPLE here on DU are calling for some kind of third party, progressive movement, not only is it violating DU's rules, it misrepresents what Dean stands for!! A Democrat!!

Please stop arguing back and forth with me. I've stated my peace.

[stevenleser]

40. When people belonging to that group demand to be offended, its hard to convince them otherwise

just let them be offended.

[Jakes Progress]

42. Your attack is irrational.

Just cop to the error in your snark.

[high density]

16. Why get a chief of staff that is an opponent of HCR and the Consumer Protection agency?

I definitely agree with Dean that there was a strong "we know best for you, STFU" attitude emanating from these first two years of the Obama administration.

[elleng]

17. Because it matters not what he may have opposed,

he knows who he'll be working for. He won't make the policy, he'll help his boss implement POTUS' policies, and PresO thinks he'll do it well. (assuming he's selected.)

[dflprincess]

33. And a big supporter of NAFTA n/t

[impik]

18. Dean Endorses Bill Daley??? Oooops, under the PL bus.

[Jakes Progress]

22. HuffPo blew that headline.

I don't read the article as an endorsement for Daley. It seems more to be saying that as bad as Daley is, as wrong as Daley is on the issues, he will at least be better than rahm. The huge plus that Dean sees is that it is not rahm.

I agree that Daley is another slap in the face to main street and progressives.

[ProSense]

23. From the OP:

"If Bill Daley becomes the chief of staff, that is going to be a huge plus because he is outside of Washington, he sees things the way people outside Washington do. It is not a left or right issue."

[Bluenorthwest]

24. Yes but firs he says he does not agree much with Daley

but then he uses him as a comparison to the outgoing by saying
'A, he is a grownup and B, he gets that you don't treat people like you know everything and they don't."
Then he says the part you excerpted. What he says in full is "I don't agree with Daley, but at least he's a grown up and not a jerk like Gibbs. Even Daley is an improvement over cronies and yes men."
Endorsement includes things like 'great choice' or 'I'd do the same' or 'a wonderfully talented person'.
I loved it. As an critique of Gibbs and Rahm, which is what it was.

[Jakes Progress]

28. From the truth of the matter.

You know as well as the next person that the lines above were not an endorsement of Daley, but an attack on rahm. i could say that newt gingrich would be a huge improvement over sarah palin. That would not mean that I endorsed gingrich. But you know that. Those kinds of things just get in the way of a good piece of preconception though, so you just avoid them.

Carry on.

[ProSense]

29. Howard Dean just gave a ringing endorsement of Daley on Rachel Maddow's show.

He said he didn't always agree with him, but vigorously defended him for the position.

[Jakes Progress]

36. Do you seriously not know what is going on here?

Do you really not know what Dean is doing?

Okay. Then from now on we will take all politicians at their spoken word. If Obama says he will do something and doesn't, that will make him a liar. If Obama says he wants to work more closely with republicans we will take that as him moving to their position.

Let's keep these new parameters in mind for future posts. Okay?

[ProSense]

39. "Do you really not know what Dean is doing? " I know what's going on:

Dean endorsed Daley for the position.

What do you think is going on?

[Jakes Progress]

43. Playing dumb is not your long suit.

For two years apologists have taken Obama's words and said he was just saying that for political advantage. But when it goes the other way, we are told to believe only the words, not the intent.

Hey. I think the post is great. I think in disagreeing with Obama's choice, we have found your very first admitted tiny disagreement with the administration. Cool. I've watched dozens of complete Obama maniacs slowly become disillusioned over the last year. Some of his biggest and most ardent primary supporters have been down that road. I was one that started out supporting someone else in the primary. I lost. Then I got excited by Obama's rhetoric and the promise that the fact that America had gotten to a place where it could elect a liberal, black man that I got all on board too. Then, like so many others, I began noticing the rhetoric didn't match the performance. Still don't know if it's from misrepresentation or from simple lack of skills. But the last year has been littered with the enthusiasm of former fanatics.

Daley is a bad, bad choice. Too many ties to too many bad places. I think Dean was just doing the Washington brush off of rahm. He can't, in Washington circles, say what he thinks about rahm, so he supports the replacement as better. He must know that Daley is a sore thumb in the eye of progressives, but the message he is sending is that even someone as bad as Daley is better than rahm. That's the way the dis in DC.

On the other hand, if Dean truly thinks Daley is a good choice, it is simple - Dean is wrong.