Dean for the DNC

Maggie says:
A couple of weeks ago, an offhand comment I made about my support for Howard Dean as DNC chair provoked some good debate in that post's comments. After reading everyone’s thoughts (proving, I think, that Dean is nothing if not subject for a juicy debate) I did my homework and found out more about the other DNC candidates. Today, my support for Dean has only strengthened. Here’s why:

A close examination of Martin Frost – former rep from Texas and the other front-runner in the DNC race – reveals how much he embodies the “Republican lite” stance that in addition to turning my stomach, proved to be an un-winnable strategy for many Dems this year. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the basic strategies that I think Democrats have to draw upon are to be vocal, to offer an alternative, to get back to their progressive roots, and to fight back – especially against bogus attacks about values from the Karl Rove crowd. I don’t see Frost being able to do any of these things. In fact, he’s an impediment to any of them happening at all.

Frost is now famously vilified for an ad in which he proudly proclaimed himself an ally of Bush. This comment from blogger Markos Moulitsas sums up my thoughts exactly: "If you spend a year distancing yourself from the Democratic Party and sucking up to Bush, Hastert and Hutchinson, then you have no business trying to run the Democratic Party." Not only does Frost not believe in reconnecting Democratic, progressive values with swing voters who supported Bush, he was ashamed of those values in his own campaign. I don’t care if you’re campaigning in Texas or in Massachusetts, you can’t sell out the party’s values and then expect to lead the party.

More recently, Frost’s calls for Democrats to unite around Sen. Joseph Lieberman act as more proof that Frost isn’t the right man for the job. Last week Lieberman was urging Democrats to unite around Condoleeza Rice and deliver a “resounding vote” of confidence and unity. Give me a break! Lieberman is about the only person who I think would have made a worse choice for Minority Leader than Harry Reid, save for Zell Miller if he was still around. We need progressive backbone. Supporting folks without any is not the way to go.

So why Dean? As I said before, he gets it. Dean equates “moral values” with “telling the truth before sending young Americans to war, protecting the environment, building a better education system and not leaving a massive federal deficit for future generations. So let us be the party of moral values, let us be the party of economic opportunity, let us stand up for equality in this country again." I see no one else as taking on these issues more compellingly – or more effectively – than Dean.

Just as important, Dean knows how to do the nuts-and-bolts work of organizing, a crucial need for the Dems now. His organizing capabilities vaulted him to front-runner status in the primary when no one thought he had a chance. Now’s an opportunity to take those skills and use them for the good of the party. Rather than a sacrifice of his political ambitions, I think heading the DNC is a perfect match for his skills. He knows how to roll up his sleeves and get to work – look how hard he busted his ass for Kerry on the campaign trail, after a pretty humiliating defeat in Iowa and after.

One more thing: people like someone who knows what they stand for, who plainly speaks it, and who fights for those things. Too many folks thought that wasn't Kerry - but it is Dean, like it or not. Dean in charge would convey those things to the public about the Democratic party - they it knows what it stands for and is proud of it, that it offers a better alternative than what we have today, that it will fight for the American people (and not just the rich ones).

So for me, it’s still Howard Dean. Donnie Fowler and Simon Rosenberg seem like fine enough candidates, but I don’t think either combines the passion or skills of Dean. And if Frost gets the job, expect me to completely freak out.