Orange County Metro oped: A Holiday Holler

[question everything]

A Holiday Holler

Democrats need Howard Dean’s political courage.

BY CHRIS MEARS

As my seven devoted readers know, I was a Howard Dean man in the election just past. And I still am. Although our institutional memories are shorter than Britney Spears’ first marriage, you hopefully will recall that it was Dean who invigorated an otherwise stultifying dull Democratic primary with his wit, intelligence and cajones. At the time, Dean was considered to be too hot for the medium ­ that is, until the nuclear winter of the Kerry campaign left most Democrats keening for some warmth. Dean’s vindication came as the moribund Kerry campaign unfolded, and then folded.

Dr. Dean emerged from the election undiminished, unbowed, and wanting to take the helm of the Democratic Party by becoming chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He should be welcomed with open arms. He remains a bright light in a constellation of darkness, armed with a political intelligence matched only by Bill Clinton in recent times, and with the temerity to say what he thinks ­ just the antidote for the limpid rhetoric that has characterized the Democratic Party in the last two presidential elections.

Dean has been marginalized by a sound-bite press and risk-averse party apparatchiks because of a single, over-the-top moment in Iowa ­ the “scream”­ and it is now taken by many as an article of faith that a man who emits a sustained yell somehow lacks the temperament to be president. As a consequence, Democrats fielded yet another dreary, say-nothing candidate who failed to beat the most politically vulnerable president in memory. The Peter Principle is nowhere more in evidence than in national politics, and its current grip on the Democratic Party threatens to relegate the party of Clinton to a permanent second-class status that will take a generation to overcome.

(snip)

Howard Dean has offered his services at a time when his party is at risk of becoming irrelevant to national politics. There will continue to be Democrats who are uncomfortable with Dr. Dean, and these are the same party hacks that profit from the sorry status quo that continues to dumb our party down. Dr. Dean is part of the cure, if only Democrats are finally willing to honestly assess the reasons for the party’s recent defeats, for therein lies the path to health and vitality. The party doesn’t need to become “more liberal,” nor do we need to field candidates who are necessarily left of center. Rather, the Democratic Party must once again become a party led by men and women who lead, who have the courage of their convictions, and who, like Dean, are willing to say what they think and feel even at the risk of failure. Indeed, we Democrats have become so afraid of losing campaigns that we’ve forgotten how to win them. If given the chance, Howard Dean will remind us.

Happy Holidays to you all. Yeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! OCM

From http://www.ocmetro.com/metro122304/viewpoint122304.html

Chris Mears (was) an Irvine city councilman and trial lawyer specializing in personal injury litigation. E-mail: [e-mail]. Letters to the editor go to: [e-mail]

[Goldeneye]

1. Why can't we just pick our own leaders...

I think Dean would be a great for the DNC.