Dean and his reputation for "anger" (deserved or not)
At the moment, I'm glad Dean has a reputation for anger, and I'm glad he shows some passion. The passion seems real, not conjoured up after media consultation. To me, a problem with Democrats has been that the "We're so middle even when the middle moves to the right" strategy has also meant "we have no inspiration or spark".
The 2002 party that had nothing better than "prescription drug reform" to offer frankly won't receive my enthusiasm. While the Dems (Byrd excepted) cravenly voted for Bush's Iraq war, I woke up to hear drunken kids beating up a homeless man who cried out that he was a Vietnam vet. There is a lot to be angry about.
I recall Clinton's attempt to build a national health plan, and I also remember how smoothly he seemed to drop it. Neoliberalism followed... I remember Clinton's angry pro-labor speeches in Seattle during the time of the Seattle world trade protests. It was entirely empty anger, not tied to structural reform, just contrived and unrelated to real action with the trade agreements Clinton had sought. Vision I think requires passion. Anger isn't by itself a virtue, of course, it needs to be inspired by values.
Compared to Clinton's pro-labor "anger", I have the impression that Dean's anger means he really would pursue reform.
By the way, I think Bush has an anger problem, coming from his inadequacies and shallowness. For example, remember when he irritably snapped at that American reporter who was speaking French?
I don't think "dean's anger" is a fundamental question. But I've sensed that his anger is tied to his courage to oppose the war when most Dems were tremblingly following Bush's lead. If anger is the price of courage in a Dem, then it seems good.
Whatever anger I've seen so far seems related to courage. I also have the impression that Dean's courage is part of why he is a leader in the race. It has forced two or three other leading candidates to show more courage. Isn't that a good thing for Dems?
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Please note that there is another recent diary entre on this theme