VA Gov. Tim Kaine has been given the nod to chair the Democratic National Committee (DNC). With an incumbent President-elect, the DNC Chair is typically chosen by the Democratic President, as de facto head of the Party.
This is a blow to smart, progressive Democrats, those of us who pushed Howard Dean to the fore in 2004. The corporate-funded Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) did everything it could to stop Dean, proposing 5 other people instead of him, one after another, but they lost out to the chorus from dedicated party members nationwide.
Now, it appears the DLC has got its man back in. Tim Kaine is certainly not a bad man, and many Democrats in VA like him. But does he understand why the Democratic Party faltered under the Clinton era, why it bounced back under the strong, quiet, and determined leadership of Howard Dean, and how to continue achieving the policies and offices we have fought for? We'll see.
From Wikipedia, Kaine is:
the current governor of Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected governor in 2005, after serving as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and Mayor of Richmond, Virginia. As governor, he is a member of the National Governors Association, the Southern Governors' Association, and the Democratic Governors Association. Before entering into Virginia politics, Kaine was a lawyer in Richmond, Virginia, and worked with the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) as a Roman Catholic missionary in Honduras. Kaine endorsed the Democratic nominee, now President-Elect Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election and was considered a likely choice to be Obama's running mate, but was not ultimately chosen.
The myth that Kaine and the DLC would like to sow is that he knows how to win in a red state, by coddling business and taking a very cautious, regressive, and ultimately self-defeating approach to policies; and by distancing himself from the party base and liberal/progressive values.
In fact, he won because the Governorship was handed to him by former Gov. Mark Warner, the Republican candidate was weak, and he rode the early anti-Bush sentiment in Nov 2005 (post Hurricane Katrina, when Bush's incompetence was exposed).
With Bill Richardson now stepping out of the Commerce Department role, is there a chance of getting an actual progressive into an Obama cabinet -- but not likely.
What do you think about the choice of Kaine? I know, he's not awful. But will he live up to Howard Dean's success? Think of the record: from 1992 up until 2004, Democrats had an astonishing record of losing influence. They lost the House, Senate, Presidency, Governorships, and much of K Street. After we, the net-roots, helped bring Howard Dean into the Chairmanship of the DNC, we regained the House, Senate, Presidency, and Governorships. Can Kaine surpass Howard Dean's record?