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Can Howard Dean revive the Democrats ? I say YES but only
if he can breath life into a comatose party that must not only be a
true party of opposition but must also offer a motivating vision for
millions of new voters ~ instead of being Bush-lite like kerry ( who
is now history and brought the Demo's down with him )
Marc Cooper, LA Weekly, offers an excellent analysis of Dean's
dilemma and what it will take to revive his patient.
Excerpt: " In short, the Bush agenda is about an accelerated
transfer of wealth upward while charging off all current
operating expenses to the next two or three generations...
The Democrats can’t quite bring themselves to run a true
deficit hawk even though such a posture would have
enormous public appeal.....they must ignore the self-serving
drivel from a political cadaver like Kerry....Dean starts out in a
hole imagewise, and he, and the Democrats, are going to have
to come up with something very powerful to dig themselves
out. Democrats, if they wish to survive nationally, must
generate their own push ... So now let’s hear Dean's ideas
and those of the party he vows to rebuild ."
Allen L Roland
Code Blue
Dr. Dean must revive a very sick and unresponsive patient
by MARC COOPER / LA Weekly
We know what the Bush second-term domestic agenda looks like:
privatizing, and cutting the benefits of, Social Security; making tax
cuts permanent for the wealthy; coddling insurance companies
and medical providers through “tort reform”; expanding standardized testing in public schools; and banning gay marriage across the
country.
The president wants to eliminate or consolidate more than 150 programs.
Spending priorities would shift ever more toward the military, with
a 5 percent increase in Pentagon spending — not counting “supplemental” increases for the conflagration in Iraq. Money for
half of the other two dozen government departments would be cut,
with significant whacks at education, the environment and
agriculture.
Not that this has anything in common with authentic Goldwater conservatism. The federal budget has ballooned under Bush —
a mind-boggling 30 percent since Bill Clinton left office. So has the federal deficit exploded — from an $86 billion surplus in 2000 to
nearly a half-trillion (and still growing).
In short, the Bush agenda is about an accelerated transfer of
wealth upward while charging off all current operating expenses
to the next two or three generations.
But at least the Republicans have a plan: Don’t tax — but
spend anyway.
What’s the Democrats’ domestic alternative? Maybe you can
articulate it, because they sure can’t. The Democrats can’t quite
bring themselves to run a true deficit hawk even though
such a posture would have enormous public appeal. Instead,
the Dems seem to settle for mere ankle biting — quibbling
on an ad hoc basis with this or that Republican initiative. And I do
mean initiative, as the GOP seems to have achieved rather
permanent ball control.
Even the old Rooseveltian idea of a far-reaching federal
government seems to have been appropriated by the Republicans — albeit in a bastardized version.
The Democrats’ response? So far, it’s been to elect Howard
Dean as DNC chairman. Doctor Dean’s unpredictable straightforwardness can be refreshing.
And liberals, who make up about one-third of the Democrats and
less than 15 percent of the electorate, can savor a moment of
vindication (keeping in mind, I trust, that something like three-
quarters of Democrats rejected Dean during last year’s primary
voting). It’s certainly some fun to watch the
Democratic establishment unsuccessfully resist Dean’s push. No question he was hardly the first choice of many.
But beyond the feel-good vibe the Doctor ushers in, I have to admit
that I don’t see what difference at all Dean’s ascension will make.
The Democrats, more than a new chairman, need a compelling
vision and an attractive program that can not only galvanize
the base and win over the undecideds, but also inspire and motivate millions of new voters.
Dean has promised that his first priority is to take the Democratic
cause back into the South and other Republican red regions that
his party has as much as abandoned. That’s a good first step, as Democrats have once and for all to face the uncomfortable fact
that their decline stems from desertion by the white working class.
But, we have to ask, just what is that Democratic cause that Dean hopes to export southward? John Kerry materialized on the same podium and answered that question by saying: “This great party of
ours doesn’t need a makeover. This great party of ours doesn’t
need some massive shift,” Kerry told assembled delegates of the
DNC. “This party of ours came within inches of winning the
presidency thanks to your efforts.” This all depends on just how
many inches you need to stack up the nearly 4-million-vote margin of Bush’s popular victory.
I suppose we should expect such self-serving drivel from a
political cadaver like Kerry, but I would hope no one will follow his counsel.
Democrats need to take the opposite of Kerry’s advice and rethink everything. Rethinking doesn’t necessarily mean sliding rightward. But someone has to put some meat on Dean’s bare-
bone promise that he’ll “pretty much be living in red states in the
South and West for quite a while.” Fairly or unfairly, justly or
otherwise, the Democratic Party has acquired the reputation of
being a bicoastal enterprise dominated by New Englanders.
Dean starts out in a hole imagewise, and he, and the
Democrats, are going to have to come up with something
very powerful to dig themselves out.
The forward push of the Republicans is going to be relentless in
the months to come. Simply opposing them is not enough.
Democrats, if they wish to survive nationally, must generate
their own push. Liberals have complained that’s not been
possible until now, because the party machinery was in the hands of a
compromised corporate elite. Now, to paraphrase Confucius,
they have gotten what they wished for, i.e., a national chairman
who boasts he’s from the Democrat wing of the Democratic Party.
Great. Now let’s hear his ideas and those of the party he
vows to rebuild.
Until or unless such renovation takes place, I fear that it’s
comedian Lewis Black who has come up with the most accurate assessment of our political topography: The Republicans, says
Black, are the party of bad ideas. The Democrats, by contrast,
are the party of no ideas.
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