I'm an Ex-army type living in Michigan. Always liked Clark for as long as I could remember. Never had much use for Dean especially during his angry days. Has anyone noticed though, that Dean has been much more even-tempered of late? It's like that self-reinforcing campaign-hyped persona of his finally blew away after Iowa and New Hampshire. What's left is a pragmatic, sharp-minded, even-keeled, moderate politician with a lot of sensible ideas. It seems like this is who he really was before the campaign got to him. I wish this Dean had emerged sooner.
My new-found respect for Dean has gotten me thinking about what it was about Dean and Clark that made them good candidates.
Executive vs. Legislative
Dean confronted Kerry yesterday about Kerry's leadership in the Senate. Said something along the lines of, when I was governor, I was actualy responsible for the welfare of the state, whereas your job is more a bunch of guys arguing in a room with no ultimate responsibility. I'm sure I'm butchering the words, but hey, I'm ex-army, my head is mostly rock.
If you look at the 4 front runners, you have 2 legislators (Kerry and
Edwards) and 2 exectives (Dean and Clark). Let's say that the strongest
qualities for a legislator are oratory and persuasiveness. Let's say
that the strongest qualities for an executive is judgement and
decisiveness.
If we were to nominate someone from the executive bin, Dean and Clark
both are eminently qualified on the decisiveness quality. Although the
old Dean had some lapses in judgement.
If we were to nominate someone from the legislative bin, why would we
pick Kerry over Edwards? Edwards is far more articulate and persuasive.
I think people picked Kerry for superficial reasons. Soon, his
shortcomings will be exposed like it happened already when,
unfortunately, fewer people were paying attention.
For me, I think we should choose an executive for a president. The VP is
the sidekick, someone who can support the message. In that role a good
communicator is well suited. My dream ticket is Clark / Edwards and I'll
be happy with Dean / Edwards.