Howard Dean is visiting universities as the election nears. He is in Ohio this week, was recently in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Good editorial from the Keene NH Sentinel:
Flag wavers: Howard Dean has a way with wordsThe editorial points out that the McCain campaign attacked Obama because he drew 200,000. Snide and ugly attacks.
As we all recall, Barack Obama spoke to a crowd of 200,000 people in Germany last July as part of a weeklong international trip. People traveled from all over Europe to hear him. It was an extraordinary event. But some Americans — prodded by political activists — thought it was too big. Obama wasn’t running for president of Europe, people said. He should put America first, complained political analysts interviewed at length on Fox News. We don’t need any outside help picking our presidents, others complained. If Obama wants to be president of the United States, why doesn’t he stay home and talk to us? Nyah.
Almost unnoticed during that controversy, was Obama’s message. It was an appeal to close the wounds that have opened up between Europe and the United States during the past eight years. Speaking as “a proud citizen of the United States,” Obama told the crowd: “If we’re honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart and forgotten our shared destiny. In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe’s role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth.”
John McCain, who had previously chided Obama for not having traveled enough abroad, chose to mock his rival’s success in Europe by having lunch in a German restaurant in Ohio on the day of the speech. “I’d love to give a speech in Germany ...” McCain said. “But I would much prefer to do it as president of the United States, rather than as a candidate for the office of the presidency. ... And so we’re going to be campaigning across the heartland of America and talking about the issues that are challenging America today.”
Sadly the attacks worked well enough that there was little talk of the speech in the news here after that.
Dean brought it up when speaking at Keene State College.
Then, last week, to remind us of all this, along came Howard Dean, former Vermont governor, former Democratic presidential candidate, now chairman of the Democratic Party. A week ago today, he spoke to a small group at Keene State College. And, as he used to do when he campaigned on his own behalf, he made precisely the point that needed to be made to put Obama’s visit in its proper context.
“The Republicans made fun of Barack Obama for going to Europe and getting 200,000 Europeans to wave the American flag,” Dean told the college crowd. “When was the last time a president of the United States got people around the rest of the world to wave the American flag?”
Yes, Howard Dean sure has a way with words.
What a shame the Obama campaign was made to feel ashamed of such a remarkable reception.
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