So you thought you had heard the last of him. But alas, Howard Dean has reemerged, and not just as another prominent politico, but as the head of the Democratic Party. Remembered best for his infamous campaign-ending scream in Iowa, Dean’s political prospects seemed dim only recently, but the doctor whom most people regarded as dead in the water now appears to have revitalized his career. Now is the time for Democrats to give up their initial skepticism and embrace Gov. Dean as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Since the day he decided to run for DNC chair, Howard Dean has faced nothing but criticism. Preceded by his reputation as a liberal reformer and an emotional hothead, the former governor of Vermont seemed to upset his party’s status quo, which held a very different agenda. Centrism, it appears, has become very popular among Democrats since their devastating November losses. As Republicans welcomed and joked about the possibility of a Dean-led party, many Democrats warned against granting the former governor the reigns, fearing he would be too radical a figurehead for the party. Does any of this sound familiar?
Don’t pay attention to the Dean-bashers on either side of the aisle. These are the same folks who essentially deemed Howard Dean’s presidential run hopeless from its inception. As it turned out, his campaign (until it became mortally wounded in Iowa) was hugely successful, gaining a massive, energized following and bringing many young people and first-time campaigners into politics. While the 2004 Democratic primaries were shaping up to be little more than a George W. Bush hate-fest, Howard Dean was winning supporters who were excited to stand for a man and his ideals rather than just the common goal of defeating the president. In addition to creating his own enthused base, Dean utilized revolutionary grassroots campaigning techniques that would eventually be emulated by every other candidate in the field, and he did all of this while sticking to his principles — something Democrats should keep in mind, given the label that stuck to their eventual nominee.
If there’s one fear that seems to be shared by a majority of Democrats, it’s the fear of coming across to voters as being too liberal. Why is this? Consider the success that Republicans have enjoyed as of late. Very few people would credit Republicans’ recent electoral dominance to moderation. Rather, President Bush won his reelection via support from an energized right-wing base consisting of Evangelical Christians, proponents of limited government, foreign-policy hawks and the like. The neo-conservatives in Washington win because they stand for something. Maybe it’s time for the Democratic Party to stand proudly for what it is and to stop trying to hide its liberalism, because history has proven that Democrats lose when they pretend to be Republicans. With Howard Dean as the DNC chairman, you can expect that Democrats will be Democrats.
Over the past 25 years, the Democratic Party has seen troubled times. In their infinite wisdom, party leaders have seemingly always offered up the same remedy for Democrats: move toward the center. Maybe it’s time that the DNC begin to show the American people what it actually stands for: equal opportunity for everyone, a strong public education system, universal health care, economic growth and development, and reestablishing respect for the United States across the globe. Howard Dean is exactly the chairman needed for the Democratic National Committee while the Democratic Party begins its rebuilding process. He will rejuvenate Democrat grassroots campaigning and modernize the party’s fund-raising infrastructure to parallel that of his campaign, and, most importantly, Howard Dean will never compromise his Democratic principles.
Rob Rossmeissl ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in political science.
