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ZOT: Dean's agenda isn't radical; it's plain sensible
tallahassee democrat ^ | 1/2/04 | Matthew Miller

Posted on 01/02/2004 8:48:39 AM PST by still hungover

It's one thing for rival Democrats to slam Howard Dean's domestic agenda as some "left-wing abandonment" of President Clinton's centrist triumphs; after all, a little demagoguery in the service of winning is what primary politics are about.

But in reality, the notion that Dean is somehow radically left on domestic policy, or has "dissed" Bill Clinton, is nonsense. To the extent these charges are serious, they prove how little critics grasp Dean's proposals - and how little they recall Clinton's own domestic vision, which Dean largely seeks to fulfill.

To see today's Democratic squabble in proper context, it helps to take a longer view. On domestic policy, Bill Clinton's presidency consisted of two years on "offense" followed by six years on "defense." The meltdown of his health-care plan in 1994 cost Democrats control of Congress and ended the affirmative phase of Clinton's presidency.

Clinton's great achievement on "defense" was to move the country from large budget deficits (which put Democratic domestic ambitions in a straitjacket) to unprecedented budget surpluses. As 2000 drew near, it was clear that Clinton's surreal odyssey of survival would be vindicated only if he were succeeded by a president who would use the surpluses he was bequeathing to pursue the unfinished progressive agenda he never had a second chance to pursue himself.

But Al Gore did not become president. And now, in record time, George Bush has dissipated the surpluses.

Enter Howard Dean. To his critics, Dean's crime the other day was to suggest it was time for the party to move past Clinton's famous 1995 declaration that "the era of big government is over." Dean said Democrats should not "join Republicans and aim simply to limit the damage they inflict on working families."

Instead, Dean argued that Democrats should again raise their sights. But this isn't abandoning Clinton's legacy - it's precisely the opportunity that Clinton's defeat of the Gingrich "revolution" and his surplus-generating survival was intended to create.

What "radical" goals would Dr. Dean urge the party to pursue, in what he now calls a "New Social Contract for Working Families"? Affordable health care for the 44 million uninsured. Affordable child care. Universal preschool for millions of poorer kids who don't have it. A new commitment to make college more affordable. A modest increase in the minimum wage. New efforts to encourage savings for average citizens.

These goals aren't radical; they're common sense. But the conservative movement has so successfully shaped perceptions of where the 50-yard line lies in political debate that they can be plausibly branded as "lefty" -- meaning the media can (for now, at least) be persuaded to characterize them this way.

In seeking to move the 50-yard line back toward common sense, Howard Dean is doing what needs to be done - and privately, other Democrats know it. If anything, his ambitions are too timid. A modest increase in the minimum wage, for example, won't begin to address the scandal of tens of millions of Americans who live in poverty despite living in households headed by full-time workers. On education, Dean has offered nothing to address the teacher crisis that plagues millions of our poorest children.

The one place where Dean's tone does break with Clinton's is his determination to take on the excesses of corporate America. Yet few recall that a central riff in Clinton's 1992 campaign decried excessive CEO pay; the issue resonated powerfully (and still does) with ordinary citizens of all stripes. In office, however, Clinton eschewed such confrontational rhetoric in favor of working with Wall Street and the corporate community to tame the deficit and expand health coverage.

But after the shocking corruption exposed in the last few years - from Enron to Tyco to the New York Stock Exchange, the heart of capitalism - no serious candidate can ignore the "rot at the top" as a political issue. Even conservatives and thoughtful business leaders know something went wrong among a serious swath of our business elite - and that this needs to change.

Bottom line: You can have doubts about Howard Dean's electability. But you can't doubt that his domestic agenda is roughly where Democrats in 2004 ought to be.

Now if only we could get Dean to stop worrying about reading Osama Bin Laden his Miranda rights ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; dean
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To: still hungover
Yeah, right!

[Bullcrap alert]Clinton's great achievement on "defense" was to move the country from large budget deficits (which put Democratic domestic ambitions in a straitjacket) to unprecedented budget surpluses.

The republican takeover of congress in '94 and their restraint on govt spending as well as the "internet bubble economy" resulting in the large increase in capital gains taxes lead to the reduction in the deficit.

Clinton had nothing to do with it. He was too busy getting knobbed by Monica (35 times by her own admission) and others to pay any attention to the economy and the budget deficit and terrorists and the environment and the military and anything else. He was a totally ineffectual president who was much more interested in the trappings of power and the requisite adulation and perks. The perception of doing something is easier and much different than actually doing something

One man's opinion.

41 posted on 01/02/2004 9:09:00 AM PST by montomike (montomike)
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To: dirtboy
I hope the kind of pain you are talking about never goes away!!!
42 posted on 01/02/2004 9:09:27 AM PST by Cyber Ninja (His legacy is a stain on the dress.)
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To: still hungover

43 posted on 01/02/2004 9:09:34 AM PST by 4mycountry (If you're reading this tagline you have way too much time on your hands.)
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To: still hungover
BTW, what's the next seasonal topic for your screen name? Valentine's Day? Or MLK's birthday?

Hey, everyone! Let's help our troll friend out with some screen name suggestions for these two upcoming holidays.

ihaveadream

promised_land

cupids_arrow

shot_through_the_heart

44 posted on 01/02/2004 9:09:52 AM PST by Coop (God bless our troops!)
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To: still hungover
You can go here to see the massive support Dean is getting from Republicans:

I want Dean to be the D's nominee, he'll get beat like a drum.

45 posted on 01/02/2004 9:10:58 AM PST by NeoCaveman (Happy New Year)
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To: still hungover
You can have doubts about Howard Dean's electability. But you can't doubt that his domestic agenda is roughly where Democrats in 2004 ought to be.

No doubts about his electability *snicker* and I do think that his domestic agenda is where the Democrats ought to be - on the lunatic fringe, the perfect place for wiping them off the electoral map in 2004.

Looks like the dawning of an age of GOP domination akin to the one the FDR years was for the Dems.

46 posted on 01/02/2004 9:11:49 AM PST by thoughtomator ("I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid"-Qadafi)
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To: Coop
You forgot Groundhog Day - so let's propose he log in as Saddam saw his shadow Four more years of Bush on February 2nd.
47 posted on 01/02/2004 9:11:57 AM PST by dirtboy (Howard Dean - all bike and no path)
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To: Jack Black
Dean is a socialist, ever lovingly empathetic of the former USSR's model.
48 posted on 01/02/2004 9:13:07 AM PST by Made In The USA (Where is the outrage?!)
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To: still hungover
Hungover, you are NOT going to trick us into voting for Dean by trying to convince us he's fiscally conservative. I'm sorry, but we're just not that dumb. I know how much you wish we were, but it's not going to happen.

See, Mr. Hungover, the problem is that Dean has no concept of how economics works on a national scale. He ran a balanced budget in a microscopic toy state which has almost no expense for its own police. The majority of the federal budget goes to national defense, which Dean not only doesn't know how to pay for, but intends to gut anyway.

Furthermore, Dean's plan to balance the budget involves taxing the nation to death. Now, this might work in the first year or two (thanks to Bush's economic stimulus package whose impact Dean would inherit), but it's the economic equivalent of strangling the goose that lays the golden eggs. See, Mr. Hungover, when you give people the freedom to earn and spend their own money, they tend to try and make as much of it as possible; tax them the way Dean is proposing, and the government ends up taking a whole lot of nothing.

Hence, there is NO WAY that Dean can be considered a "fiscal conservative", so just drop that shebboleth right now. I KNOW you got it from the deanforamerica blog (I visit there myself, subtly throwing in disinformation and watching you guys make asses of yourselves with it), but your belief that this would actually work shows just how little you know or understand. Try actually learning a thing or two about conservatives or about economics, and then come back to us when you're ready to talk.
49 posted on 01/02/2004 9:13:09 AM PST by Omedalus
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To: dirtboy
Very good! Or Puxatawney_Phil (sp?) would work.
50 posted on 01/02/2004 9:13:13 AM PST by Coop (God bless our troops!)
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To: still hungover
The hangover won't begin until after 2004 election day and its going to be a really big one.
51 posted on 01/02/2004 9:13:37 AM PST by VRWC_minion (Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and most are right)
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To: OnTheDress
I hope the kind of pain you are talking about never goes away!!!

Republican presidents as far as the eye can see. That's the mother of all Dem hangovers.

52 posted on 01/02/2004 9:13:49 AM PST by dirtboy (Howard Dean - all bike and no path)
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To: still hungover

53 posted on 01/02/2004 9:13:51 AM PST by NYC GOP Chick (*achoo!*)
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To: still hungover
As my dentist loves to say, "This is going to sting a little." He lies too.
54 posted on 01/02/2004 9:15:11 AM PST by Johnny_Cipher (Dimension Zero)
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To: still hungover

55 posted on 01/02/2004 9:16:25 AM PST by NeoCaveman (Happy New Year)
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To: still hungover
Here's the reall support for Deanie........


56 posted on 01/02/2004 9:16:47 AM PST by deport ( Some folks wear their halos much too tight...)
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To: Coop
April first it can be: Republican_4_Dean
57 posted on 01/02/2004 9:17:05 AM PST by Cyber Ninja (His legacy is a stain on the dress.)
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To: still hungover
May I suggest a website that you will absolutely LOVE? It won't make your hangover worse and ALL genders are accepted there.

Crushies for Dean

58 posted on 01/02/2004 9:17:14 AM PST by arasina (Tagline sponsorships! Think about it! Brought to you by MAYTAG)
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To: still hungover
Don't know about Dean. He might be okay in spite of his hyperventilating style, but after hearing a couple of his supporters call in to talk radio this morning I don't know that his supporters are. They just keep yelling the most irrational things in the approved CommieGreenie manner. Proof, I suppose, that not everyone is properly medicated in the Brave New World.
59 posted on 01/02/2004 9:18:21 AM PST by RightWhale (Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
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To: still hungover
Howie

Your comments really crack me up,
I’d have to say you’re funny.
As funny as a hemorrhoid,
Or as a nose that’s runny.
Saddam’s capture no big deal,
Your stance is still the same.
You’re really sucking big on this,
I’d say your brain is lame.
But tell me Howie, I must know,
These speeches, just who writes them?
Katie Couric comes to mind,
Or Michael Moore, is it him?
Well Doctor Dean you make me sick,
Malpractice, I will sue you.
Please get a clue, I’ll sell you one,
John Kerry needs a few too.

Conspiracy Guy 12/16/03

60 posted on 01/02/2004 9:18:45 AM PST by Conspiracy Guy (No words were harmed during the production of this tagline.)
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