Thursday, June 09, 2005
The Democrats Have Lost Their Way
The depths of running, ducking, and hiding were evident this week as Democratatic leaders distanced themselves from (and criticized) the remarks of Howard Dean, in essence legitimizing a distraction as a topic of news to be replayed all week.
Dean is going around the country talking about values and how Republicans do not practice what they preach. He is talking about the Democrats competing vigorously in more states to take back the White House and Congress in future years. He has hired more Black people into senior positions than any DNC chair before him, and he is raising money to support hiring staff in states that have been neglected by the Democratic Party infrasture.
So he gets criticized by his fellow Democrats? Shouldn't they be happy that Dean is doing their job, doing the kinds of things they should have been doing all along?
Dean is going around the country talking about values and how Republicans do not practice what they preach. He is talking about the Democrats competing vigorously in more states to take back the White House and Congress in future years. He has hired more Black people into senior positions than any DNC chair before him, and he is raising money to support hiring staff in states that have been neglected by the Democratic Party infrasture.
So he gets criticized by his fellow Democrats? Shouldn't they be happy that Dean is doing their job, doing the kinds of things they should have been doing all along?
Read or Post a Comment
He's spoiling the Spoils system of patronage and cronyism. He's not "one of them" so they're going to fight him tooth-and-nail. I just hope he can get the job done without too much personal loss.
The Rude Pundit nailed it - albeit exceedingly rudely, as is his idiom.
just read the rude pundit. i think he nailed too, except i'm pretty sure that the democratic leadership in washington really wanted him as dnc chair.
he locked enough votes of the people doing the voting (the dnc committee members) and there was nothing more any of them could say.
the republicans can be outspoken sometimes about a civil war going on within their party, and its role in pruning out the deadwood while maintain united in opposition against the democrats.
democrats, characteristically, seem reluctant to call what's happening a civil war. but that's what i think is happening within the democratic party right now.
perceptions of howard dean are determining the battlelines.
I think the perceptions of Howard Dean are reflective of what side of the battle line one stand on. Dean's supporters see him from the back - he's leading the fight to make the Democratic Party relevant to every-day people and we've got his back. Dean's opponents, however, see him from the front - their social network is the primary impediment to state and local Democratic Parties getting the resources that they need to fight and beat the Republicans. More than ideology this fight is about centralized control of the Party resources. The opening salvo was fired before Dean even took office, when Terry Mac gave Demzilla to the DCCC and the DSCC. Grassroots (i.e. Power to the People) or Centralized Control - that's the battle line from my POV.