Dean Chairmanship of DNC Would Be Big Statement
February 2, 2005If Howard Dean gets the nod to lead the Democratic National Committee — and it’s looking more and more like he will — the party will have made a strong statement that it does not need to recalibrate itself to get back into the mainstream of America. But only the naive ever thought the party would return to some modicum of reason. We can’t overstate the significance of this — if it happens. For all their talk of bipartisanship, the Democrats, as usual, have a bizarre way of showing theirs. No one is more divisive, no one is more anti-Bush, no one is more anti-war, and few are more off-the-wall than Howard Dean. And this is who these people are picking to be their screaming leader? Thank you.
Maybe the entire party isn’t crazy and they are calculating that while Dean may have some image liabilities, he can fire up the fund-raising base. But they can’t have it both ways. If they choose Dean, they will have him as their national spokesman. And he can’t fire up the base without saying the crazy things that constitute his unique signature. Party honchos were backing Tim Roemer and apparently aren’t too pleased having this loose-cannon in their midst — as if they aren’t just a more formal type of loose cannon themselves.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said, “I think that Governor Dean would take his lead from us.”
And Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said, “The Democratic chairman has a constituency of 447 people. Our constituency is much larger than that.”
If this isn’t going to be fun to watch, nothing is. But can you imaging — if it comes to this — the far left Pelosi lecturing mad Howie on being inclusive? It would never happen.
If the Democrats choose this wild man to lead them let’s not hear any more talk from them about bringing parties to the center or making them inclusive. It’s almost as if the party has a death wish.
