I have wondered for awhile whether Howard would be our Moses or our Churchill, but his response to Katrina has convinced me it is the latter. First there are his comments regarding Bush's performance on Katrina frontpaged by kos, in which he blasts Bush for responding quicker to the political fallout than to the disaster. His critism comes down to this;
Now is the time for leadership not partisanship.
Then he steps forward into the void Bushco's lack of leadership left to provide it.
Find out how after the jump.
Ptolemy informed us last night of Howard's plan to provide leadership, instead of partisanship.
Dean sent out an e-mail requesting Dems open thier homes to Katrina's victims, complete with a link to sign up and other practicle steps to further this effort. Then he details how he is using the mashinery of the Democratic party to aid the victims. He has suspended political fundraising for now, directing all funds that come in to the relief effort, postponed the DNC fall meeting that was scheduled for this week, and granted leave to any staff member who wishes to aid in the relief effort.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/6/203551/2050
Not only is this the right thing to do, it is a stroke of political genuis. I don't think for an instant that this is political manuvering by Dean, but what a contrast with the Repugs this provides! Instead of empty words explaining why the Dems are so much better around election time, Howard has put Democratic ideals into action, and placed the welfare of the people above the party. Unfortunately, Dean does not have the resources to help that Bush does, but he has used the resources he does have to do all he can to help.
In so doing, Dean is giving the 50% that don't vote a reason to do so. The lower classes often don't vote for a simple reason, no one represents thier interests in Washington anymore. I worked my ass off for Dean in the primary, going up and down the block in my faded industrial town of Claremont NH trying to convince the downtrodden to go out and vote, but usually failing. Why? These people have heard all the pretty words before, only to be let down repeatedly as they found thier needs ignored after the election. Why in the world should they believe that this guy was different? It is actions that count not words when you are struggling to survive, and Dean is taking action. We need to make sure the MSM picks this up, so the poor and downtrodden across this land can see that at last they have someone who represents them, the Democratic party. Why did FDR win over and over again? Because he gave the poor a reason to vote.
Someone commented on the kos post that we need to forget Dean's silly promise of last year, in the light of all the disasters Bush has brought upon us. I agree wholeheartdly, and would add that the 50% who had no reason to vote before arn't about to vote for Kerry or Hillary. They will vote however, for the guy who cares more for them than he does for his party or his career.
Update [2005-9-7 19:37:5 by PLS]:
For all of you guys who are "Keen on Dean", did you ever get to see the great campaign commercial created by pacbell? She(?) did it using clips from "What I want to Know". I just thought about it because someone down thread mentioned that Howard "had them from 'What I want to know'". It was a spontaneous grassroots effort, and was/is wonderful. It flew around the net like crazy. I used to watch it from time to time because it comforted me. I didn't after Iowa because it was too painful for along time. I accidentaly activated the link 2-3 months ago and enjoyed it very much, but I bet I would like it even more today. Anyway, it still worked then, so lets hope it still does.
Enjoy (fingers crossed)
http://home.pacbell.net/dyewrks/gendean/genDean2.html