Gary Younge (Guardian Utd): Spirit of the Dean machine

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Wednesday February 18

Spirit of the Dean machine
Though Vermont's ex-governor is almost certainly out of the presidential race, valuable lessons can be learned from his campaign
By Gary Younge

If there is one thing more spectacular than the rise of Howard Dean, it has been his fall. On the early evening of January 19, shortly before Iowa caucus-goers assembled to pick the man they wanted to challenge President George Bush, he was poised to turn Democratic party politics inside out. Railing against the party establishment, he had more money, endorsements and high polling figures than anybody else.
By the end of the evening, he was a third place loser with a scream only a therapist could love. Six weeks and 17 contests without a win later, he looks a bit like an embarrassing uncle, hanging around the nibbles waiting to be told that the party is over and it's time to go home. Barring some Lazarus-like recovery in Wisconsin, by the time you read this he may have already been escorted out.
But, just as there was a huge amount that the left around the world could learn about his ascent, there are also valuable lessons in his demise that go beyond the United States. For in almost every party - from New Labour to Gerhard Schröder's SDP - there is potential for a Howard Dean to emerge and challenge their party hierarchies. True, if they are interested in enhancing their own career prospects the former Vermont governor is a poor role model. But if they are keen to improve their party's election prospects and set the agenda, he has broken and reset the mould.
Dean's rise showed it was possible to mount a credible electoral challenge from the left even in a country at war, where dissent has been marginalised by both the political and media establishments. Unlike the other two leftwing candidates - Dennis Kucinich and the Reverend Al Sharpton - Dean's candidacy was not symbolic but substantial. He stood in order to win - and for a while it looked as though he might. The fact that he didn't has bitterly disappointed some. The fact that he was in the running shocked even more.

Read more.

[T_i_B]

1. Thanks for that Jack

Just by the by, what's your take on the way the US primaries are going at present?

[Jack Rabbit]

2. My take

I think the Democrats are in a collective mentality of choosing the man they see as the most acceptable candidate to oppose Bush, even if that particular candidate may not be the one a given Democrat may support. That is why Kerry took off and Dean collapsed.

I agree that Kerry is probably a more attractive candidate than Dean, although I view Kerry's vote for the IWR as a mistake. Nevertheless, Kerry's vote for the IWR was a vote for international cooperation, of which Bush promptly made a mockery by going to war without a proper enabling resolution for the UN. That is different from Lieberman's vote for the IWR; Lieberman's position was indistinguishable from that of the junta. That is why Lieberman went nowhere.

Dean definitely deserves credit for making opposition to the invasion mainstream. Dean is no liberal and opposed the war not as a knee-jerk pacifist but because he correctly ascertained that it had nothing to do with fighting terrorism.

Even though I have some reservations and assuming he is the nominee, I will vote for Kerry in November. He may not do everything I would like. It's hard to imagine anyone but Bush starting a colonial war and lying about the threat the enemy posed. But, if Kerry starts another colonial war, we can just hit the streets in protest again. If we have to do that, at least I don't think we'll have to worry about being put on no-fly lists or federal agents asking librarians what we've been reading and threatening to arrest them if they let us know about it.

[T_i_B]

3. Thanks Jack! Here's my take FWIW!

Originally I was sticking up for Bob Graham but then he dropped out. Since then I have been undecided between Clark & Dean. Both looked like great candidates and I even got invited to Dean meetups in London! However, both appear to have fallen by the wayside and we now have John Kerry.

I think Kerry looks OK as a matter of fact. He has done more than most to rectify the IWR mistake from what I have seen and he looks better then certain other candidates on other issues such as trade.

Mind you, I have heard more people over here in the UK commenting on Kerry than on any other candidate. Not all good impressions either! The odd thing is that the thing I dislike most about Kerry, namely his National Service policy is the thing that makes a lot of the people who are apprehensive about Kerry think twice in my experience!

At least you lot have had more than one quality candidate to choose from! And yes, Dean does deserve a LOT of credit for what he has done with his campaign.