As noted many places around the blogosphere, Dean reannounced his candidacy yesterday. I like Dean quite a bit – of all the electable candidates I think he’s currently striking the best tone regarding both the Bushies and the DLC. But I must admit, I am somewhat perturbed by his faux-liberalism – this Saletan piece reads like a hit, but it’s correct in noting that, despite Dean’s campaign strategy, the good doctor is more DLC than true lefty…in fact, Dean himself is guilty of savaging his own left flank as governor. So, Dean’s definitely in the hunt for my vote, but he still has to contend with Kerry and Edwards for the time being.
2 thoughts on “The Doctor is In.”
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When Jerry Brown ran (and won) for Oakland Mayor, he posited himself as a liberal reformer. Once in office, he pulled a 180, enacting the kind of tough love/search and seizure legislation you’d expect out of Guiliani (or the other Brown across the Bay). This kind of thing is standard in politics, but often it comes from the unexpected people. Amazingly, Brown was re-elected based off of his new image.
I don’t entirely trust Dean to carry out all of the reforms he’s been promising. But one thing that does impress me about him is that, unlike Clinton, he strikes me as a guy who knows when to stand up to people at the right moments, but not in an off-putting unilateral manner. If the Republicans continue to control the two houses, we could be something similar to Ike and the Democrats during Ike’s first term, except in reverse. (Remember how ineffectual Clinton was in getting any kind of universal health care going and the foolish “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy? I don’t see Dean as a guy who would give in quite like that.) At this point, after the damage Bush and his administration has done, even a centrist in office would be better than the Cowboy.
My impression, and admittedly I’m biased, is that Dean’s fed up with the DLC-inside-the-beltway Dems performance, separate from any ideological consistency or inconsistency, as are many others. He’s tapped a deep well of frustration and anger that is not only aimed at the Bushies. Also, I never had the impression that Dean himself was promoting himself as a far left/liberal — others took his anti-Iraq-war-at-this-time-in-this-way stance and turned into anti-war/peacenik, which is just not the case. I like Dean for many reasons, not least of which -because- he’s a bit complicated. I don’t have anything, well, not much anyway, against Kerry or Edwards, I just don’t think either of them have what it’s going to take to beat the combination of Republican shenanigans and a hostile media.