Reply #24: Oh wow!!! Look at THIS!!!! Dean doesn't look so bad now. [View All]

[ScreamingMeemie]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/orourke/cst-edt-rour27.html

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Wiser
Other Views






Dean doesn't look so bad now

February 27, 2005

BY WILLIAM O'ROURKE Advertisement






Last Nov. 3, the idea that Howard Dean would become head of the Democratic National Committee would have struck most everyone as lunacy. A few short months later, it seems almost reasonable. When Bill Clinton tapped Terry McAuliffe for that job some four years ago, Clinton left his stamp on the party: McAuliffe represented the pardon-giving, money-loving side of the former Bubba-in-Chief, a friend to large corporations and constituencies.



But this time there was no former president to anoint a DNC head -- only a defeated candidate and a floundering party left in psychological disarray. In stepped Howard Dean, a loser who didn't consider himself a loser, but a prophet before his time. The Democratic bench was not deep. Dean's competition wasn't any more formidable than those he met in the primaries, and Dean showed the same skills of grass-roots lobbying that made him a front-runner back in early 2004. He got to know the local folks and they voted him into the job.

And Dean has learned some lessons: He avoided the usual rounds of Sunday talk shows immediately after his elevation. Clearly, Dean wants to establish some bona fides before emerging as the public face of the DNC. In any case, the nation already knows Dean's face -- almost too well. Such reticence becomes him, and Dean may be able to labor in the vineyards profitably, remain behind the scenes for some time, since he doesn't need to make himself known. Not having to make a splash may actually allow him to swim a bit deeper and do a better job of reorganizing the base of the party -- both its fund-raising and its ideological foundations. The DNC now has at least the chance to become the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.



Go figure....