With the results of last night's primaries, much of both the punditocracy and blogosphere has decided that the race is over and Obama will be the nominee. While this is not actually the case, it does open the next stage in political debate and prognostication, the Veepstakes.
There's a lot of buzz here in Virginia for Jim Webb and Tim Kaine, and there's no doubt that the two of them are candidates worth consideration. But there's a nationally-recognized name which would fire-up the base and the blogosphere, and who has credibility far and wide in corners of the country long-ignored by the Democratic Party whose name has not been mentioned: Howard Dean.
Why not Dean for VP?
First, he knows how to go on TV and make a case. He did it on Fox and he did it on The Daily Show. After his overwrought "booyah!" in Iowa in 2004, he dedicated himself to party-building and image fixing, while keeping true to the idea that Democrats should be proud to be Democrats.
Second, Howard Dean has been vetted by the national media and by voters, having run in 2004 and spent the past four years in the spotlight as DNC chair. We probably know as much about him as we do about Sen. Obama at this point
Third, Gov. Dean has executive experience, not only running a state, but running the DNC. As a Governor, he achieved health care reform in Vermont, and was extremely popular. His DNC is also an important thing to consider when we realize that Sen. Obama has run his campaign largely outside the traditional power structures of the party, but he will have to integrate his campaign with those power structures in order to bring a unified Party together at the convention. Howard Dean is in a unique position to make this happen.
Fourth, Howard Dean has energized and inspired the Democratic Party in states which were written off for decades (Virginia, anyone?). This effort is what's necessary for a mandate win in November. Putting Howard Dean on the ticket would vindicate the hard work he's done and the work done by the party people he's hired in places like Wyoming, Idaho and North Carolina. It would be the final move in the 50-state strategy.
Finally, he would reinforce rather than balance the ticket. This is, I believe, critical. Sen. Obama, and the Democratic Party, need to run towards their strengths on Iraq, healthcare, the economy and government accountability. Gov. Dean brings reinforcement to all of these issues for Sen. Obama.
And yet the blogosphere, the very medium which sustained the Dean uprising in 2004, has been remarkably quiet, even blind, on this option. Perhaps there are national bloggers who know more than I do as to why he's not a viable VP candidate, but maybe not.
Why not Howard Dean for VP?
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Howard Dean for Vice-President?
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Leesburg
3 comments:
It hit me just today. The Democratic Party and the country, many Republicans, too, have caught up with where Howard Dean was in 2003, being anti-war and the governor from a state that's tackled healthcare, civil unions, and, frankly, just being decent people. Thus I searched online: "howard dean for vice-president," and your blog is what I find.
Yeah, I think he'd be a good choice, but he doesn't appear to be on anyone's list. Perhaps he's let it be known he is not at all interested in the job, I dunno.
Democrats rarely forgive their losers, where as an also-ran like Reagan and those as poorly branded as Romney can usually get another chance in the Republican party, which curiously puts faith in redemption of those they've excoriated as second-rate at best.
Tenacious in another way, lately simply lying in wait as scandal and disaster consumes the Republican party, Democrats take defeat to heart and rip theirs out after one cardiac arrest.
Thus it was unusual for Howard Dean to rise as he did from unreasonable defeat. It'll be interesting to see if he has higher aspirations than running the DNC and if others see more in him too.
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