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The Mysterious Stranger
The New York Times ^ | 12/09/03 | David Brooks

Posted on 12/08/2003 10:19:11 PM PST by Pokey78

My moment of illumination about Howard Dean came one day in Iowa when I saw him lean into a crowd and begin a sentence with, "Us rural people. . . ."

Dean grew up on Park Avenue and in East Hampton. If he's a rural person, I'm the Queen of Sheba. Yet he said it with conviction. He said it uninhibited by any fear that someone might laugh at or contradict him.

It was then that I saw how Dean had liberated himself from his past, liberated himself from his record and liberated himself from the restraints that bind conventional politicians. He has freed himself to say anything, to be anybody.

Other candidates run on their biographies or their records. They keep policy staff from their former lives, and they try to keep their policy positions reasonably consistent.

But Dean runs less on biography than any other candidate in recent years. When he began running for president, he left his past behind, along with the encumbrances that go with it. As governor of Vermont, he was a centrist Democrat. But the new Dean who appeared on the campaign trail — a jarring sight for the Vermonters who knew his previous self — is an angry maverick.

The old Dean was a free trader. The new Dean is not. The old Dean was open to Medicare reform. The new Dean says Medicare is off the table. The old Dean courted the N.R.A.; the new Dean has swung in favor of gun control. The old Dean was a pro-business fiscal moderate; the new Dean, sounding like Ralph Nader, declares, "We've allowed our lives to become slaves to the bottom line of multinational corporations all over the world."

The philosopher George Santayana once observed that Americans don't bother to refute ideas — they just leave them behind. Dean shed his upper-crust WASP self, then his centrist governor self, bursting onto the national scene as a mysterious stranger who comes out of nowhere to battle corruption.

The newly liberated Dean is uninhibited. A normal person with no defense policy experience would not have the chutzpah to say, "Mr. President, if you'll pardon me, I'll teach you a little about defense." But Dean says it. A normal person, with an eye to past or future relationships, wouldn't compare Congress to "a bunch of cockroaches." Dean did it.

The newly liberated Dean doesn't worry about having a coherent political philosophy. There is a parlor game among Washington pundits called How Liberal Is Howard Dean? One group pores over his speeches, picks out the things no liberal could say and argues that he's actually a centrist. Another group picks out the things no centrist could say and argues that he's quite liberal.

But the liberated Dean is beyond categories like liberal and centrist because he is beyond coherence. He'll make a string of outspoken comments over a period of weeks — on "re-regulating" the economy or gay marriage — but none of them have any relation to the others. When you actually try to pin him down on a policy, you often find there is nothing there.

For example, asked how we should proceed in Iraq, he says hawkishly, "We can't pull out responsibly." Then on another occasion he says dovishly, "Our troops need to come home," and explains, fantastically, that we need to recruit 110,000 foreign troops to take the place of our reserves. Then he says we should not be spending billions more dollars there. Then he says again that we have to stay and finish the job.

At each moment, he appears outspoken, blunt and honest. But over time he is incoherent and contradictory.

He is, in short, a man unrooted. This gives him an amazing freshness and an exhilarating freedom.

Everybody talks about how the Internet has been key to his fund-raising and organization. Nobody talks about how it has shaped his persona. On the Internet, the long term doesn't matter, as long as you are blunt and forceful at that moment. On the Internet, a new persona is just a click away. On the Internet, everyone is loosely tethered, careless and free. Dean is the Internet man, a string of exhilarating moments and daring accusations.

The only problem is that us rural folk distrust people who reinvent themselves. Many of us rural folk are nervous about putting the power of the presidency in the hands of a man who could be anyone.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: davidbrooks; howarddean
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To: The Westerner; MeeknMing; PhilDragoo; potlatch
Dean is Slick without charisma.

You never saw Bill go nuts during his campaigns like Dr. Demento does every day.

As bad as Slick was he had more sense then Dean, at least during his campaign speeches.

Bill ran as a "centrist"; Dean runs as the "looney-leftist".

Worse then slick, more radical then algore.
21 posted on 12/09/2003 12:21:01 AM PST by autoresponder (<html> <center> <img src="http://0access.web1000.com/HV.gif"> </center> </html> HILLARY SHOOTS!)
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To: Pokey78
The theme of this David Brooks piece is what we need to be pushing around the water coolers and in interactions with swing voters who show enthusiasm for Dean: "Who is this man, really; what does he stand for?" (said with concern and consternation -- don't forget to furrow your brow). With moderates (but not die-hard 'rats) be sure and mention how much this superficially ingratiating rootlessness reminds you of Clinton.

With "progressives" and hard-leftists, lament (or laugh at) the fact that Dean has duped and used the left, and will dump them as soon as he gains office.

Don't be afraid or hesitant to engage in "whispering campaigns." It's not unethical when it's the truth!

22 posted on 12/09/2003 12:39:29 AM PST by Stultis
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To: Pokey78
Dean has an incredibly strong need for power, attention, praise and fame. He posesses few inner core convictions and even his work history documents this.

After 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school and 3 years of family practice residency he threw it all out to become Lt. Governor of a state with about 600,000 residents. Also, he gave up his church for a bike path, seems to speak on any topic at any time with any position designed to please any audience at any time.

Just not the sort of person you would follow as a leader. Finally, behind his egoistic needs for accomplishment and recognition is also an overwhelming competitive drive that results in hatred for any opponents (real or imagined). He is not the "happy warrior" in any sense of the word.

I do believe Brooks to be among the best or the best of the pundits. He sees through Dean like he sees through many -- being published in the NYT gives him the visibility he deserves.

Dean's only claim as a candidate is he hates President Bush and recognizes the deep antipathy of the liberals towards bush on the war and other issues. If Clinton was a seductive narcissist then Dean is a ruthless, domineering narcissist.

23 posted on 12/09/2003 4:26:11 AM PST by shrinkermd (i)
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To: autoresponder; The Westerner
You never saw Bill go nuts during his campaigns like Dr. Demento does every day.

As bad as Slick was he had more sense then Dean, at least during his campaign speeches.

Bill ran as a "centrist"; Dean runs as the "looney-leftist".

This is gonna be fun ! Stock up on soda and popcorn NOW !! ...


24 posted on 12/09/2003 6:32:09 AM PST by MeekOneGOP (Hillary is a TRAITOR !!: http://Richard.Meek.home.comcast.net/HitlerTraitor6.JPG)
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To: Callahan
FYI
25 posted on 12/09/2003 11:10:35 AM PST by MEG33
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To: Pokey78; Alamo-Girl
On the Internet, a new persona is just a click away. On the Internet, everyone is loosely tethered, careless and free. Dean is the Internet man, a string of exhilarating moments and daring accusations.

On the Internet, you can ping amazing people like Alamo Girl and suggest a sequel to her Downside Legacy. ;-)

26 posted on 12/09/2003 11:18:54 AM PST by r9etb
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To: r9etb
LOLOL! I hope a sequel will not be necessary! Thanks for the ping.
27 posted on 12/09/2003 11:21:31 AM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Pokey78
Another anti-Dean piece from the NYT.

Now, for whose candidacy do you s'pose they're laying the foundations?


28 posted on 12/09/2003 11:26:33 AM PST by r9etb
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To: shrinkermd
I'm going to have to research David Brooks.He nails Dean to the wall in this article.
29 posted on 12/09/2003 1:06:14 PM PST by MEG33
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To: onyx; Calpernia
FYI
30 posted on 12/09/2003 1:50:58 PM PST by MEG33
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To: MEG33
This guy gives me the same sick to the stomach sinking feeling that I get with the Clintons.
31 posted on 12/09/2003 2:04:30 PM PST by Calpernia (Innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does.)
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To: Calpernia
I had no idea that he changed positions like one changes shirts.Wesley Clark really frightens me,too.
32 posted on 12/09/2003 2:09:10 PM PST by MEG33
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To: MEG33
Thanks for pinging me, Meg. Yikes.

I think you put it best: he changes his positions as often as most men change their shirt.
33 posted on 12/09/2003 2:27:47 PM PST by onyx
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To: onyx
This was posted when sane people are asleep in my time zone.I think it's very revealing.I of course was up!
34 posted on 12/09/2003 2:59:01 PM PST by MEG33
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To: Pokey78
He shoots from the hip...he's a gabber.....he'll go down in flames.....(future trivia question I'll get wrong)
35 posted on 12/09/2003 2:59:53 PM PST by The Raven (<==Click here for more.....)
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To: Howlin
I think this is a must read article on Dean.
36 posted on 12/09/2003 6:13:46 PM PST by MEG33
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To: shrinkermd
he gave up his church for a bike path

Explain, please.

37 posted on 12/09/2003 6:27:42 PM PST by Howlin (Bush has stolen two things which Democrats believe they own by right: the presidency & the future)
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To: r9etb
LOL!
38 posted on 12/09/2003 6:31:34 PM PST by Howlin (Bush has stolen two things which Democrats believe they own by right: the presidency & the future)
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To: MEG33
Check out The Weekly Standard.
39 posted on 12/09/2003 6:32:36 PM PST by Howlin (Bush has stolen two things which Democrats believe they own by right: the presidency & the future)
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To: Calpernia; MEG33
I agree. Along with agreeing with MEG about Clark. I just cannot shake it.
40 posted on 12/09/2003 6:33:12 PM PST by Howlin (Bush has stolen two things which Democrats believe they own by right: the presidency & the future)
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