This piece in the current Time Magazine by Andrew Sullivan is really
worth reading. On how we have lost perspective on the true value
of the Dean candidacy.. (thanks for the pointer to Murshed Zaheed at
DFA)
Is Dean too extreme? On the critical matter of national security, Dean
has a more defensible record than Kerry. He backed the first Gulf War,
which Kerry couldn’t bring himself to do, and the Afghanistan war. His
opposition to the Iraq campaign is less a function of knee-jerk
isolationism or even left-wing pacifism than a pragmatic judgment about
how to fight best. No, alas, he’s no Joe Lieberman in the war on
terrorism. But his character suggests far more backbone in foreign
affairs than does Kerry’s Hamlet-like anguish and spin. I don’t see
Dean as President caving in to Jacques Chirac. And Dean could also save
the Democrats from a left-wing split. In 2000 Al Gore lost in part
because of the far-left Ralph Nader challenge. Dean has managed to
bring these voters back into the fold — without making any drastic
policy commitments that could come back to haunt him. Kerry in
comparison? Gore redux.
And why not have a candidate who expresses liberal fervor without
apology? For a very long time, the Dems haven’t allowed themselves to
vent about the way they really feel — about those benighted rednecks,
clueless preppies, preposterous puritans and economic voodoo artists
they believe are running the country. It would be deeply unhealthy for
America and the Democrats to repress that any longer. A critical part
of Dean — his preppy background, his pastel Christianity, his fiscal
prudence, his independent, working wife — truly reflects much of the
culture of the Blue States of America. Why on earth shouldn’t half the
country be represented in a national election?
Would Dean nonetheless be buried in November? Maybe. But maybe not.
Bush is vulnerable in many ways — on fiscal negligence, unseen problems
in Iraq, corporate coziness. And Dean is a conviction politician. Like
Margaret Thatcher, he may command the respect even of those who
disagree with him. He once told the New Yorker, “I think the problem
with the Democratic Party in general is that they’ve been so afraid to
lose they’re willing to say whatever it takes to win. And once you’re
willing to say whatever it takes to win, you lose.” That’s a brilliant
analysis of what ails the Democrats — and it’s why, even under Clinton,
they saw their congressional power ebb and collapse. If Dean is a
doctor, he’s got the diagnosis dead right. I say, Unleash the id.
Besides, Dean has space to move to the center in the spring. He has
already made more moderate noises — on taxes (he may not hike them all)
and the U.N. (he won’t always ask permission to wield American power
abroad). His genuine fiscal conservatism and centrist record as
Governor might help fend off attacks from the right. But he’s not the
only vulnerable Democrat on this score. Kerry will be painted as a
hyperliberal anyway. Why not have someone who can truly fight back?
Sometimes conviction matters. Without it, political parties wither and
die. The Democrats haven’t seen this kind of nerve in a very long time.
They will end up with regrets if they throw it away.
