I did.
And I don’t know why.
And if you did, I suspect that you don’t know why either.
But I’d like to get you to talk about it.
Here’s what I mean:
Howard was a centrist. He was more closely aligned with Clinton than Nader or Kucinich.
But I’ll bet that if you examine your own positions on the relevant issues, you probably had more in common with Kucinich than you did with Dean.
War? Dean said we couldn’t pull the troops. Only Kucinich called for an immediate withdrawel.
Taxes? Dean was for going back to the Clinton era tax structure. He said nothing about the payroll tax or other alternatives to alleviate the burden placed upon the working poor.
Living wage? Kucinich thought it made sense. Dean didn’t talk about it.
The same points can be made for environmentalism, kabor issues, national health care, education funding and so many others… Kucinich was the liberal. Dean was the centrist. I’m a liberal. So why Dean?
I’m tempted to say it was charisma and his San Francisco speech – the one that featured the refrain “what I want to know is….”
But that would make me shallow and easily hooked. Blech – I don’t want to admit that. At least i don’t want to be the first one… anyone else wanna have a go at it?
but I believe he spoke up at a time when no one else would tell “truth to power”.
And it touched a chord with a lot of people.
He also ran a very innovative campaign which I deeply admired.
That’s the single thing that I think won Dean so many supporters: his campaign that was so concerned about community and the people that were part of it – even to the extent of putting the candidate in second place.
I’m still convinced that if it weren’t for the scream, or more specifically, the media, Dean would be president today.
He’s my neighbor-I live in NH. People fell in love with Dean because of the PASSION he brought to the forum- New energy is always welcomed in a game that can seem tedious and boring and same o-same-o.
Dean was different and had good ideas that have worked for Vermont. And he’s nice looking:-)
progressive politics is about progress… Dean has an idea of progress and an ideal for it as well. It’s effective progress he advocates. Also, he was brave enough to oppose the war.
You don’t have to or need to “fall in love”, you just do what it takes.
I first heard Howard Dean speak at a small dollar fundraiser in Kansas City in May of 2003. I liked what he had to say. What brought him to my attention was that he was actually speaking out, rather than stepping gingerly around subjects, “the” subject, really, which everyone else was treating like the crazy relative in the attic. All I said to him then was, “Thank you for speaking out”.
A governor of a state who rolled up his sleeves to try and get things done, someone who spoke out, someone who addressed the need for public participation in our political processes – what’s not to like?
Results or not, and our less than competent media’s attempts to publicly pillory him aside, his campaign was brilliant. And as an individual you do what it takes to help make things happen. I bought in with time, effort, and money. It was worth it. All of it.
I was right along side you all the way. I’m from near the VT border in NY. I didn’t know much about his record as Governor until I had already made him my candidate though.
And if you take that away from him, well… Kucinich did all the rest, only better.
The thing I’m afraid of is that we all went for Dean because he was “electable” and Kucinich wasn’t. So we’d accept less so that we’d gain something.
And that’s what Kerry’s people did. ick.
for debate whether Dean really was unelectable. Had I known that we would find no WMD and that we would not even fake having found WMD, I would have had a much higher estimation of Howard ‘Big Nuts’ Dean’s chances.
But there can be no debate about Kucinich. He could never be elected President.
Well, I dig Howard but I have to admit I was hardly a Deaniac. Kerry was my guy the whole time (okay, actually, I was on the side of whoever won the primaries, but Kerry was my fav).
So, my point is what I think Howard did was give a voice to people who felt disconnected from the Democratic party and from politics in general. He harnessed an amazing source of untapped power (the young and the Internet-savvy) and aim that power at a specific goal. Which was unlike anything most of us had seen until then.
So, yes, Kucinich and even Kerry are more liberal than Dean, but there were valid reasons Dean got the initial momentum. And actually, I’m thrilled that he’s the DNC chair now.
Okay – I just spent 1/2 an hour writing a comprehensive reply to this diary and my post disappeared. Same thing happened this morning when I posted a reply to one of Susan’s comments. (Heavy sigh. . .)
and still am in love. Deeply.
I know I’m not going to say this very well, but here goes.
I’d hear Dr. Dean speak in person or on a video at one of those (silly) meetups, and chills would run down my spine. The reason? I was totally pissed off with all politicians in early 2003 because of the war and the way that everyone had caved into Bush. Then Howard Dean came along, stood up and spoke my thoughts, almost word for word.
He was angry, so was I. He was frustrated, so was I.
He had ideas about how things could be better. Well, hell, he was the only Democrat I knew of that had really thought out and implemented plans to improve our lives as opposed to sucking up to special interests and focusing on getting re-elected.
He gave me hope. Not just for myself, but for my neighbors. For my country. For the world.
He called bullshit on the whole DC establishment and I stood up and cheered. He was a breath of fresh air at a time I didn’t think was possible and I will always love and thank him for that.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to say pretty much the same thing.
The moment for me, as I’m sure it was for a lot of folks, was the speech to the California Democratic convention, the “What I want to know” speech. It was the first time C-Span was going to carry the speeches of all the (up to that point) announced candidates. I was curious about Dean, and before he was halfway through I was hooked. My wife, who was in another room, came out and said, excited “Who is that guy?” I said “Howard Dean. He’s the one.” I felt that he spoke for me. After 2002; the war, the elections, the death of Paul Wellstone, it was cathartic.
Anyway, I have to admit to feeling nostalgic for those late ’03 meetups, the lukewarm pizza, trying to get the dvd player to work, writing letters.
Ohmygawd! That took me back – thank you for the laugh. No matter how many meetups at the same place with the same equipment, we never knew whether or not it was going to work!
I still have the “What I Want to Know” video on my computer (that I think was done by Georgia4dean) and whenever I get overwhelmed by today’s politics, I play that a few times. Makes me jazzed and sad at the same time.
he was inspiring. And he wasn’t afraid to stick up for what mattered to him, no matter what the consequences to his own career.
Same reason I fell in love with McCain. And same reason I’m falling in love with Feingold.