Imagine this, if you will...
It's late March. The newly-determined Democratic nominee for President, fresh off a gruelling Super Tuesday battle, is doing the rounds of the talk shows. Let's say it's Dean, but it doesn't have to be -- Edwards or Clark could pull this off, too. And the he gets the question...
INTERVIEWER. Congratulations on your victories in the primaries, Governor.
DEAN. Thank you. But you know, they weren't just my victories. Hundreds of thousands of people worked their you-know-whats off to make them happen. It's their victory.
INTERVIEWER. Well, that raises a question I'm sure you're going to be asked a lot over the next few months. You talk often about your supporters. But can you tell me -- can you tell the Americans watching right now -- why you're running? Why do you want to be President, Governor?
DEAN. Well, I'm glad you asked that, and the answer's very simple. I'm running for President because the people running our nation right now have forgotten what it means to have a dream for America.
You know, whatever you care to say about Ronald Reagan -- and I've said a few things in my time -- he had a vision. He knew what he stood for, what he wanted America to be. But not today's Republicans. They can only see one thing: Republicans in power. They're obsessed with winning, but when they win, they don't know what to do.
Let me give you two examples of what I'm talking about.
First, that first tax cut. You know, during the campaign in 2000, President-- Governor Bush, as he then was, he said, "The economy is booming. The federal government has too much money. Pass my tax cut, and we'll give you some of it back." Then when he took office, we hit a huge recession, and he started saying, "The economy is trouble. Pass my tax cut, and it'll get it going again." And eventually he wound up saying, "Pass my tax cut, because I said so."
Remember, the actual tax cut didn't change one bit during all of this. The President just kept changing the reason he wanted it. And that tells you -- that should tell you -- that he didn't believe any of the reasons. He was pushing for a massive, irresponsible tax giveaway because Reagan cut taxes and he didn't know what else to do.
Then there's last year's Medicare bill. The President basically said, "We don't care what you pass, just pass something. We want to be able to say, 'We passed a prescription drug bill'. So long as we can say that, we don't care what it actually does." It wasn't doing the right thing by America's seniors that mattered -- it was having something to run on this year. Winning is all that matters.
You know, the American people put my party in the penalty box for a dozen years because we'd become the party of same old, same old, and that wasn't good enough. Now the Republicans are the party of same old, same old, and that's still not good enough. I believe America can be better -- that it can be safer, freer, more prosperous, and more just than it is now. Our parents worked hard to make this nation better for us, and we have a duty to work hard to make it better still for our children.
The American people demand better than just 'good enough' from their leaders. And that's why I'm running for President, and that's why so many people have joined me. And that's why we're going to win.
[So, how do you rate this as a message for 2004? --ed.]