I've stated on this blog several times that I will stick with Howard Dean until he wins, loses, quits, or dies. The following is my brief, no-bullshit, no-spin, rationale for why.
Back in 2000 I voted for Albert Gore and held my nose doing it. Bush at the time didn't look
that bad to me, particularly since of my top three issues -- abortion rights, gay rights, and gun rights -- Bush scored one for three while Gore only nominally scored two for three. I also had real reservations about the idea of making Tipper Gore -- who once took credit for the prosecution of Jello Biafra on obscenity charges -- into our First Lady. In the end, I supported Al Gore because I didn't want abortion rights to end, and because he did, after all, literally write the book on the global warming crisis. By supported, I mean that I argued for him with my friends (who mostly voted Nader) and pulled the lever for him in November. I certainly didn't campaign for him or give him money.
When Bush won, I figured that I could deal with him for four years. How bad could he be?
Oh how times have changed.
Since September 11th I've been outraged by the way the Bush administration has handled the war on terror and the economy. The War on Terror should have made us 1) go after Al Qaeda with every resource we have and 2) re-evaluate the way that we conduct foreign policy, with an eye toward building better relations with the rest of the world instead of bullying them. Bush has done the first in a half-assed way and has completely screwed up the second. The War on Iraq in particular is the perfect combination of violating both principles, with the added features of misleading the world and driving our government deeper into debt.
At the same time, I was disheartened to see our Congressional leaders basically giving up on some of our most important fights, for reasons that seem to me, from the outside, to be stupid and superficial: to generate a campaign issue for 2004, to make a moral point, or just because we don't want to look difficult.
I thought, "if these guys can't beat Bush in Congress on the small stuff, what makes them think they can beat him in the election?"
The Dean moment
At some point I decided that the candidates that I liked best out of the schmucks that I saw were Dean and Kerry. Kerry voted for the second war but voted against the first war, and he has a history of bucking the party elite. Dean on the other hand was pro-gay, pro-choice, pro-gun, and anti-war. "Well, okay," I thought, "let's hear what they have to say."
I listened to Kerry and heard someone that sounded reasonable. Maybe even boring. Then I heard Dean and thought, "wow, this guy is right fucking on." At that point I started supporting Dean. Around March I sent him my first campaign contribution.
How I became a Deaniac
What cemented my support for Dean was three things.
The first is the fact that he was able to raise just an ungodly amount of money. This told me that he had a campaign that knew what it was doing.
The second was how often he stated something that, much to my surprise, was just what I was thinking. His comments after the capture of Saddam Hussein is a perfect example. The day he was captured, I thought to myself, "well this ought to make Al Qaeda just pleased as punch." Later that week Dean stated that the capture of Saddam hadn't made us any safer. Pundits and opponents tore him apart for that. This pretty much affirmed that this was the man for me.
The third was talking to people I knew -- Greens, Independents, gun owners, progressives, and Democratic party cogs. Everybody loved Dean, except for the cogs, who thought he was an arrogant prick. Since 1992 I've had little use for the cogs, so that only increased Dean's value in my estimation.
As months progressed, I never had my Deanism challenged. He was sky-high in the polls and getting support from some of the biggest cogs in the party. I thought we had it nailed.
What's happening now
Well, now we're finding out just how much the cogs don't like Dean. Iowa is traditionally a contest of who the cogs like best, and in Iowa the cogs were split between Kerry and Edwards. We're also finding out that Dean's organization isn't what we think it is: the troops are green, and the command structure doesn't adapt quickly or aggressively enough. Finally, we're finding out that the things Dean says are making people nervous. They're afraid that Bush is going to hammer him for his views on Iraq, the War on Terror in general, taxes, campaign finance reform, etc. The Iowa Speech didn't help him, either.
This is reflecting itself in the polls, which all agree that Dean is trailing behind Kerry and that he's lost support nationwide. What was a sure thing two months ago is now a hell of a fight, and while Dean has a couple of advantages -- money and people -- it's clear that he's in real trouble.
Why I still support Dean
Nonetheless I still support Dean, and will continue to campaign for him -- something I haven't done for any candidate since I canvassed for Michael Dukakis as a high school student -- and to send money to him -- something I've never done for any other candidate before.
I continue to do this for three reasons.
- I believe Dean is the best person we could have as President of the United States. Given his experience digging governments out of fiscal trouble and crafting compromises, and just his sheer brains, I believe he's well suited for the job. It also helps that I agree with him on almost every issue.
- He's one of two Democrats who can compete against Bush. Because he hasn't accepted public financing, he is not bound by spending limits that restrict every other candidate except for John Kerry. In addition, Dean has demonstrated that he can raise enough money to compete (including $1.5 million since Iowa), although I honestly think this won't be an issue for Kerry if he's the nominee either. What bothers me about Kerry is his lack of real leadership in Washington and the fact that he sounds so much like Dean right now. He strikes me as someone who can't think on his feet and mount a substansive attack against Bush on the issues. Kerry's strategy also concerns me, since he's made it clear that he wants to concede the South. This, to me, is a losing strategy, although I can understand why he'd follow it: the NRA will do anything to keep him from getting elected.
- Even if Dean loses, he is forcing the party to re-evaluate itself and to move back to the Left. The fact that Kerry and Edwards have co-opted the message turns me off from them, because it's clear to me that it's not their message; but on the other hand, it makes me feel better about the Democratic Party in general. The party apparatus now realizes that the best way to beat George Bush is to stand against him and to fight for the things we hold dear, instead of trying to play the same old DLC games. He has been, and continues to be, a voice for the values of the Party.