Dems can run as party of fiscal responsibility: Dean best spokesman

[CMT]

The Washington Post article on Gov. Dean's record in Vermont included something which caught my eye:
"The national role reversal is that Democrats have become identified as the party of the balanced budget," said Eric Davis, a Middlesbury political scientist, "Howard Dean can lay claim to that."

How? by running on his record of putting away some money each year in a rainy day fund which has kept Vermont from the fate of most other states which are now scrambling to balance budgets by cutting services deeply and/or raising taxes. Vermont has a $10 million surplus.

But it is true. Bill Clinton in the 90's had to clean up the red ink caused by the policies of Reagan and Bush I. Now the next Democratic president will face the largest budget deficits in history--already projected at $455 billion (Bush himself says his tax cuts account for at least 25% of this deficit--an independent source would probably contradict him and find they are responsible for at least half). This will be a major issue in 2004 because campaigns are about the future and eventually we will have to somehow bring the deficit back under control and not leave it for future generations. The deficit will eventually lead to sluggish growth, higher interest rates, and more unemployment.

Remember how Ross Perot took off in '92? his big issue was the deficit. For a third party candidate he attracted a phenomenal 19% of the vote. This is an issue which work to the Democrats advantage and with Howard Dean's lack of Washington experience and his record balancing the budget, while still delivering on his health care agenda in Vermont, I think he can win over to the Democrats many former Perot Independents.

"I'm a fiscal conservative, and I believe in social justice", Dean said recently. I think this sums up the political philosophy of a majority of American voters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15326-2003Aug2.html

[w13rd0]

1. Absolutely...

...we're going to need something remarkable to pull us out of this hole. Someone who can return us to fiscal sanity, while pursuing an agenda that makes us a leader, rather than a bully, again.

[Mairead]

2. "I'm a fiscal conservative, and I believe in social justice"

A believer in social justice who won't cut the military-industrial budget, won't cut the drug-prison-industrial budget, and wants to keep the hands of his wealthy elite peers in our pockets?

Yeah, right.

[dsc]

3. This is our winning message

Bush is quite likely to be the first President since Hoover to leave office with a net loss of jobs. He has caused ruination to our federal budget and that needs to be reversed to save our safety net. It is too bad we didn't elect Gore and avoid this mess but we didn't and now we have this mess. Dean is the best able to argue this case and the best able to clean the mess up. Four more years of Bush and we may have no one working.

[w4rma]

8. Bush* already is the first since Mr. Great Depression, himself, Hoover

[blm]

4. Dems in Congress balanced an out of control budget with Clinton...

and had a healthy surplus when Bush took over. But, I guess that's easy for many to overlook.

[dsc]

5. Clinton was not some second banana support player

He had the plan which they supported. They deserve credit to be sure but no Clinton no balanced budget it is that simple.

[blm]

7. didn't say Clinton was second banana...

I said they worked together. Dean used alot of federal programs instituted by Clinton and Congress to benefit his numbers in Vermont, yet NOONE seems to want to give the congress or Clinton ANY credit for that.

[CMT]

6. yes but Clinton too was an outsider

with no Washington experience. For whatever reason, rightly or wrongly, voters seem to trust Governors instead of Washington insiders when it comes to electing presidents. Of course the Dems in congress also passed the Clinton program, just as they would be needed to pass a Dean program or whoever is elected president.

[DrFunkenstein]

9. Very Strong Article For Dean

I was personally impressed by the article. It's good that this is coming out early for Dean, so he doesn't have the "he doesn't know who he is" problem. Now it's a "they don't know who he is" problem for his detractors.

Dean's been getting alot of good ink lately. I hope it lets him move on from the whole anti-war thing, so he can start talking about his vision for America's tomorrow.