I’m unemployed right now, as a lot of Americans are. I want my benefits. But more importantly, I want the president I voted for, not a president who will reward the Republicans for taking me hostage and encourage them to keep doing it.
Our Hostage Negotiator in Chief has given the Republicans what they want, but the Republicans have not let us go. In return for Obama meeting their demands, our captors have merely agreed to feed us and keep us alive until they can think up some more demands.
It’s painful to admit this, but Obama has failed us and has set us on a course for further failure.
I voted for Obama, and I still think he’s been (so far) a better president than the last few. But by surrendering so quickly and so fully, Obama has guaranteed that Republicans will invest more energy in pushing more of their agenda, fully confident that they can win every time if they just push hard enough. Obama has given us little hope that he will ever fight back.
To save the Obama presidency, someone needs to take Obama to the woodshed. Someone on our side needs to scare him as much as the Republicans do so that Obama will see he is safer fighting the Republicans than he is surrendering to them.
The Senate today showed us they are unwilling to challenge Obama. So the only way I see it happening is with a primary. Obama seems to be calculating as Bill Clinton did, that if he does what Republicans want, Democrats will still vote for him because we’ll have no other choice.
We need another choice, and the best one out there is Howard Dean.
Dean has said he is not yet interested in running against Obama. But if we begin a Draft Dean movement, I feel confident he will understand why we need him to run.
After the 9/11 attacks, it seemed Democratic politicians across America turned into a pack of cowards. Whatever Bush demanded, Democrats in congress gave him. At the start of the 2004 primaries, Kerry and Edwards and Lieberman and the rest were promising to be like Bush.
It was Howard Dean who changed that.
Dean boldly called out those Democrats who supported Bush’s tax cuts for the rich and who did nothing to stop the war in Iraq. The other Democrats tried to dismiss Dean, but he quickly drew so much support from the grassroots that his rivals figured out their mistake, and they quickly reformed themselves, following Dean’s example of standing up for our values. They stood up because Dean’s candidacy made it necessary for them to stand.
Howard Dean did it then, and he can do it now.
More than any other potential primary challenger being discussed these days, Dean poses a serious threat to Obama, the kind of threat Obama cannot ignore.
Dean’s 2004 grassroots campaign organization, Dean for America, is still active. All across America, they still operate under their new name, Democracy for America. Recent activities include getting thousands of voters to contact congress and urge a rejection of the Obama tax-capitulation.
Dean has the organization to challenge Obama. Dean has the wide-spread support. Dean can raise the money. And Dean has the credibility.
Dean failed to secure the nomination in 2004, but much has changed since then. In 2004, most of America knew little about the Vermont Governor except for his shoot-from-the-hip speeches, some drawing enthusiastic applause, one drawing pervasive mockery. The only voters who knew his record of accomplishment were in Vermont -- where he won the primary even after he dropped out, with Kerry and Edwards still competing. The voters who knew Dean best supported him passionately.
Today, more Americans know Howard Dean. During his four years as the DNC Chair, he was the face defending the Democratic Party against Republican attack. He led our party to two astounding election victories, even while he made sacrifices for the party’s long-term success. Today, America knows what Vermont knew in 2004: that Howard Dean is a leader who can get the job done.
Over the last six years, Dean has become a more disciplined speaker; but he has not gotten softer, he has merely gotten better at aiming his punches. He takes fewer jabs and spends more time setting up the knock-out.
In 2004, America knew only that Dean was a fighter. But in the blistering 2010 primaries, Howard Dean showed he is also a good administrator, holding the party together when so many in the party saw good reason to walk. Today, America knows what Vermont knew in 2004: that Howard Dean is not just a good campaigner, he is a good choice.
Last week, when I heard Obama’s press conference, I kept flashing back to that scene in Superman II where the President of the United States gives a televised speech to cede all authority to the evil General Zod, announcing, "Only by following all his directives will the lives of millions be spared." Suddenly the president goes off-script to cry, "Superman! Can you hear me?! Superman! Where are you?!"
President Obama will not go off-message to call Howard Dean. We must call Howard Dean ourselves.
The mere rumblings of a Draft Dean movement may be enough to force Obama to man-up. If not, Dean may well answer our call and run an active campaign. And then, if Obama still will not stand up for our values, we may hire a new president who will.