To all anti-Dean DU posters...may I please make a single, diffident point?

[AngryYoungMan]

Each day, I see more and more threads attacking Dean. These threads are started by DU posters who adopt an indignant or belligerent tone towards those of us who are supporting Dean, who are excited about Dean, or who have in some way expressed enthusiasm or excitement about Dean.

The gist of all these posts (if I may do the posters the disservice of clumping their remarks together) is fairly straightforward: Dean is not the best candidate.

These posts then list Dean's positions, or refer to his gubnatorial record, the speeches he's made, or other Dean remarks, in an effort to show that Dean is dishonest, or has behaved badly as a candidate, or in some way betrays or contradicts the essential Democratic message that he claims to stand for. Or, these posts warn of the strategic blunder of a Dean candidacy. Some of these posts adopt the Lieberman-esque "leading the party into the wilderness," and some don't, but, in general, there is a warning tone that suggests that those DUers who support Dean are either self-deluded or naive and are going to learn a rude lesson in November '04, if not before that.

While I can't speak for all Dean supporters, I think there's an essential misunderstanding inherent in all of this.

To explain, I'll describe my own position, which I think is fairly representative of the Dean "movement" in general. I am very excited about Howard Dean. I am, in fact, more excited about Howard Dean than I've been about any single Democratic figure on the landscape since Al Gore. I might even go further, since my enthusiasm about Gore has always been muted by Gore's puzzling (and occasionally maddening) behavior and tactics.

I am excited about Dean for a single reason. I'm not even going so far as to say that he's the "best" candidate, nor do I necessarily believe that, amongst the Democratic contenders, he's the one who would made the "best" President. That stuff happens all the time, in each election year. My excitement is based on something far more profound and unprecedented.

I like Dean because he has sought out, and has found, the hidden anti-Bush fervor in the general public.

For three years the press and the Democratic Party has acted like there is no such fervor. They have behaved as if Bush is the second coming of FDR, Reagan, and Kennedy combined. They have accepted the Karl Rove/Bill Kristol/Ann Coulter line that the public loves this thoroughly unlovable President.

Month after month (since 9/11) I have watched in horror as every major news organ, every public figure, and every opinion-maker has catered to Bush's agenda. To my intense disgust, my own political party has not only rallied around Bush; they have led the charge. On DU, we saw the disasterous results coming in 2002 and were powerless to stop them. People like Daschle, Lieberman, Gephart, and H. Clinton have astounded me with their weakness, prevarication, and lack of courage and vision.

In short, we on the left have behaved like battered wives, putting sunglasses over our bruised faces and insisting that we aren't being exploited, raped and beaten. Every single public figure has given into this trend, with the sole exception of Al Gore, whose overdue and underreported "fire in the belly" speeches keep coming across like the increasingly shrill voice of a discredited and self-deluding outsider.

It has gotten so bad that most of us have forgotten what it was like to have a real party to belong to.

Howard Dean is on the covers of Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News this week. He is there for one reason: he raised half a million dollars in a few days, over the internet, mostly in small personal checks. He raised this money because he made clear that he opposes George W. Bush, and that he won't step down from that challenge.

This is an incredible development. It's more than that: it's the kind of event that should have DUers jumping for joy. It's as if Dean entered an abandoned and discredited old mineshaft...and struck gold.

Call him opportunistic if you want; but it's the same "opportunism" that propelled Clinton in 1988, when the party was considered dead and old war-horses like Edward Kennedy and Mario Cuomo were sitting on their hands.

It's very early. It's August of the Primary Year. Anything could happen. But, for the first time, I can hear my brethren. I don't have to speculate any more about the vast American public and how they would react if they were shown an alternative to Bush, and to gnash my teeth that my party refused to provide one. Now, they can SEE an alternative to Bush, and they are rallying behind him. For the first time since the awful night in December 2000 when this whole nightmare began, another flag has been planted.

I'm not saying that Dean is the answer, in the long run. I'm not sure that any Dean supporter is really saying that. But, when I hear Republican family members and friends speaking so admiringly of him, it's like I can FINALLY see the weather vane turning.

For the first time, I can hear America's dissatisfaction with Bush. It's in those checks and pay-pal donations, and now it's on the cover of Time Magazine. I won't have to move to Canada or France. This really IS my United States.

We should all be excited about this; even if we don't like Dean. And we should understand, all of us of DU, the momentousneous of what's happening.

I'm sorry to take such a presumptuous tone. But I feel strongly about this and I think I'm not alone. The infighting is not necessary.