Okay, I have seen Dean live about half a dozen times, in situations both public and private, in DC, VA and NH. I have talked with him twice, and watched him talk with other people. I certainly see him as passionate and as intense. And I will recognize that when televised his facial expressions COULD be interpreted as anger.
But it is not anger that is fueling those of us supporting him. Rather it is hope. It is the belief that our politics can be something other than collecting $2,000 checks and speding large amounts of money on tv ads, professional operatives, focus groups, and the like. It is the belief that we can make a difference that leads us to hand write (and with my penmanship that is a struggle to keep it legible) dozens upon dozens of letters to complete strangers across the nation [in my case to towns in ND]. I have written perhaps half a gross. I know of people who have written half a thousand. It is not anger but passion that drives us to keep calling strangers to urge them to support Dean, to wear our "Dean gear" so that others will know where we stand, to always have Dean literature in case someone asks about Dean - in my case I have made converts in Supermarkets (Safeway, Harris Teeter and Giant - I'm not selective), bookstores [both Barnes & Noble and Borders], while having coffee [Starbucks, a local place run by a church group and Cheapeake Bay Bagle Shop]. I have emailed my reasons for supporting Dean to everyone I know who might be vaguely interested. I have talked with fellow teachers at school.
I do not agree with Dean on all issues, but on many that matter to me, especially education, his track record and his proposals are at least as good as anyone else in the race. Of gerater improtance to me is how he has inspired people who had dropped out of the political process to get involved once again. I teach primarily 9th graders about government. That of course includes the election process and politics. I choose to teach this subject because I want my students to become active and involved citizens. For too many years the models they had, particularly in Washington, were not inspiring. In fact, the entire political process, from elections to how we select Federal judges, has been something that made many turn away, sometimes in resignation, sometimes in outright disgust. When I see young people being brought back into the system, I view that as positive.
When I see seniors who had given up hope, or middle aged people like me (I'm 57) who had decided that they might vote, but that would be the limit of their involvement, getting involved, working to get others involved, even giving money as well as time, that is symptomatic of hope.
There is much about the current administration that makes me angry. Anything I could list would be said much more articulately by others, including many on this list whose words I have read. But I will neither rage, nor slip gently into the night in despair. When sick, as I am today, I will send emails to newspaper writers trying to move them however much to a deeper understanding of this campaign, or I will explain by phone to an acquaintance whom I've never met from Amherst MA why Kerry cannot beat Bush (he is not drawing in the additional people) and Dean can [and only those two have opted out and can financially stand up to Bush].
My anger has fueled my determination to defeat the current administration, but it is my hope that enables me to reach out to others and bring them in.
When I have watched people react to Dean, either at Town meetings in question and answer periods, or when he walks through a crowd afterwards, what I see is a connection that is not common anger, but a common understanding that our nation is at a crossroads, and that if we the people do not exercise our right to run this nation we may lose it forever. I have a fear that the current administration may try to find a way to cancel the election of they think they will lose, or to steal it through manipulation of voting machines and election rolls. That makes me more determined to maked the turnout for Dean so massive that it will be impossible to deny. And I know that will only happen through hope.
If you say, as I have read posted on the dailykos blog today, that you cannot support Dean because of anger, then I say to you but two things. First, how is it you are so blind to the hope that is the real underpinnings of his message. And second, given what is happening in this nation, why aren't you even more angry than you perceive Dean to be? If you are not angry, then in my opinion you do not care deeply enough about this nation. If you are afraid to express righteous anger, then you do not let the voters know that you will fight for them. If you are only angry, you will be blinded by your anger and your desire for revenge. But if in your anger you see another way, that anger can be transformed from useless rage into a positive and hopeful determination to change what confronts us.
I believe Howard Dean's campaign, for all the flaws of both the man and the campaign, may offer, to borrow Lincoln's words, the last, best hope that our democracy be revitalized. That is why I support him, and I believe, at a major level, that is also what inspires so many to work so hard on his behalf. We are angry, but we have trasnformed our anger into the determination that we can take this country back for We the People of the United States.