How Howard Dean Saved the World

Howard Dean doesn’t get a lot of love lately. People have relegated him an obscure footnote in the history of politics - An ineffectual leader of the DNC who refused to take sides in what was seen as a destructive and potentially fatal primary battle between Hillary Clinton and President Elect Barack Obama. If he’s remembered at all by the wider population it’s more likely than not for his unearthly scream at the conclusion of the Iowa primary. Endlessly repeated by the news media - that scream drown out an otherwise remarkable grassroots campaign heavily relent on youth support and Internet fundraising. A recipe dutifully duplicated and improved upon by the Obama campaign. Could Obama have hoped to defeat the democratic frontrunner status and uber-power of the Clinton machine without the Dean Internet / grassroots campaign roadmap? Unlikely. But we aren’t taking about that ground breaking effort to re-engaged voters in the political process in 2004 as we should. Lets give Dean his dues. After all, to paraphrase Einstein, if the Obama campaign could see farther it’s because it stood on the shoulders of giants. But that was a long time ago. What has Dean done for us lately? Well after his defeat Dean became head of the DNC directing the efforts and resources to elect democrats across the country and birthing the “50 state strategy,” a concept perhaps most responsible for the scale of democratic wins in Congress and one whose adoption by the Obama campaign helped usher in a Democratic mandate unmatched in my lifetime. Still there are many who were frustrated by his unwillingness to support Obama over Hillary (or vice versa) and end a brutal battle that slogged from state to state. I say thank goodness, because sure enough those battles help toughen and swell the ranks of democratic ground troops in states that would have never otherwise have been in contention in the general election. Even more importantly, it helped create a volunteer infrastructure competitive with the much-vaunted Republican machine in the perennial battlegrounds states. So what's my point? My point is that us Democrats owe a lot of our current success to Dean and maybe the country and the world at large should consider showing a little gratitude. In short, I’ve dusted off my Deaniac beanie and so should you!

America: Day One

So here it is; America is deciding if it can elect a black man as its leader. Everyday Americans of all stripes and colors, spanning the entire spectrum of class, region, and ethnic background are going to the voting booth and having their say. I can’t tell you what we as a country will decide no matter what the pollsters say. They’ve been proven wrong far too many times, but I can tell you no matter what happens I consider this ground zero. Today America actually became America. So what does that mean? For me it’s an implicit promise given at our founding and so well articulated by Dr. King, that we are a nation where a person is judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin or any other externality for that matter. This is idea that has been taught to young Americans from generation to generation and while it has always been a source of strength and a powerful symbolic force that has made this nation unique and an inspiration to the world, it has not always been true. Only through the hard fought efforts of Americans from the foundation, to the Civil war, to suffrage, and the civil rights movement and many moments in between have we moved to that more perfect nation. I don’t mean to imply that this is a nation now free from all prejudice or that it has achieved all it hopes to in terms of social justice, but I do believe in my bones as most American’s now do that no one is automatically excluded from being the people’s representative, whatever their demographic make-up. Yes it is true that there has yet to be a female president, or a Jewish or Asian or Indian one (dot and feather). But it is also true that a biracial individual, who not so many generations ago could very well have been a slave in this country, could now very well be its leader. The biggest hurtle has been cleared and the other demographic check marks will simply be that, check marks that will have political consequences, but not to the point of utter exclusion. Let me put this more bluntly; if we can elect a black man we can elect anyone. That is a promise that no nation in the history of the world has ever achieved. That promise is why many around the globe once looked to America as the hope of the world and why I believe come Wednesday they will again. Annuit Coeptis or roughly translated ‘she approves our undertaking.’ It’s on the dollar people!