Posted on 01/06/2004 7:03:06 AM PST by Theodore R.
Triple-Threat Dean John L. Perry Monday, Jan. 5, 2004
Republicans are enjoying watching the Democratic Party gulp at the prospects of nominating Howard Dean. They need to look again. Dean is their worry, too. It’s far more than that. Dean is, above all, America’s worry, which is what makes him a serious triple threat.
First, here are some multiple migraines the ex-governor of Vermont is giving thoughtful Democrats in Washington and back home:
Will Dean’s presence at the head of the Democratic ticket this year help or harm election chances of Democratic candidates for the United States Senate and House of Representatives?
Would Dean’s coattails, for better or worse, trail down into Democratic races for governorships, state houses, county commissions and city halls?
What happens if Dean wins the White House but Republicans wind up with larger majorities in the Senate and House?
What kind of legislative program would President Dean insist – more likely demand – that Congress enact?
Given Dean’s known irritability and penchant for revenge upon those who do not walk in lock step with him, how well would he get along personally with members of Congress of either party?
What manner of patronage would President Dean dole out, or withhold?
What philosophy and caliber of judicial nominees would he try to have confirmed?
What would Dean’s defeat, or victory, mean to other Democrats with presidential aspirations in 2008 and beyond?
Would a Dean victory mean four, possibly eight years, of control of the Democratic Party by far-left radicals, Dean’s core base?
What would that do to the party’s prospects for regaining credibility, respectability and electability in future contests? Now look at the equally vexing Dean issues confronting Republicans:
How heavily should Republicans go after Dean up to the nominating convention?
Do they run a serious risk of alienating moderate Democrats who, embarrassed though they might be by Dean, might feel he is being picked on needlessly?
How divisive would a Dean candidacy be in close federal, state and local races between Democratic and Republican candidates?
If Dean is perceived by Republicans as no particular threat to their party, why should they get very exercised in support of GOP candidates, including Bush?
If Republicans assume Dean is a sure loser in November, would this cause many to watch the election from the sidelines and thus leave Dean to pick up close electoral votes he otherwise might not earn? Thus, there are dual Dean dilemmas, a separate set of threats facing each of the two major political parties.
The perceptive reader will have noticed that in neither the Democratic nor Republican dilemmas listed above is there a concern over what a Dean presidency would do to the safety, prosperity and stature of the leading nation in the free world, the United States of America.
That’s because neither party seems terribly troubled by that prospect, being concerned at this point almost exclusively with its own self-interest.
The Third and Greatest Danger
And therein lies the third threat of the Dean dilemmas, an overriding conundrum shared by Democrats and Republicans alike.
They both had better get concerned, and in a hurry, for if they don’t zero in on the peril to this nation inherent in a Dean presidency that increases the very real possibility it could become a reality.
Here, the self-interests of both parties do, indeed, merge. For, as divided as they now are, and as rancid as their rivalry has become this early in the 2004 election process, Democrats and Republicans are above all else still Americans.
Everyone’s Menace
The new political reality is that Dean has now become America’s No. 1 potential threat.
So what should Democrats do?
It is still not too late for concerned Democrats to set aside their lesser preferences and get behind a candidate who will not drag their party into historic humiliation.
To date, no Democratic candidate for the nomination has sufficiently distinguished himself or herself. When their rhetoric is examined closely it reveals pale carbon copies of Dean: Their myopic goal remains capitalizing upon and expanding the narrowly shared, unhealthy hatred for George W. Bush that has come to characterize the Democratic Party.
A Losing Win Strategy
That’s good for a nomination – by Dean, who is the biggest Bush hater – but is also a formula inviting disaster in the general election. The American people are not historically inclined to go for a presidency founded upon hatred.
Can any of the lesser current Democratic candidates do a U-turn and stake out a candidacy not based on hatred of Bush? It seems unlikely. All have wasted too much precious time. They have permitted Dean to seize control of the nominating process by appealing to the worst elements within his party.
Can some other Democrat, not currently in the lists, step forward and assume the mantle of civility? If one such is out there, he or she is doing a sensational job of lying doggo in the bush.
Too Many Memories
Could Hillary Clinton be the one to do it? She could give it a good try, but the question of character, which towers above notoriety, often confused with popularity, comes to the fore. In this respect she staggers beneath heavy baggage.
If the Democratic Party is to have a chance at ever returning as a party of respectability within mainstream America, someone at least has to make a valiant, but probably futile, effort. Without that, the party stands naked of credentials in 2008 and who knows for how many years beyond.
So what of the Republican Party? With its own president running for re-election, it is blessed – but still challenged – by the absence of primary contests.
No Laughing Matter
Here is the danger to Republicans: They can have a jolly time hooting at Dean as he disgraces the Democratic Party – and still lose.
This is, after all, an election in a country rather closely divided. If Republicans take Bush’s re-election for granted, that in itself might tip the scales to Dean. As much as American voters dislike hate campaigns, they also resent smug ones.
Bush, then, is going to have to hustle. And he will. But he faces a very real, and understandable, temptation.
Who Needs This?
Bush is not going to appreciate, and you can’t blame him, having the likes of Dean – with the help of a combined leftist and lethargic press – shoveling barnyard offal at him day after day.
There will be occasions when Bush might well yearn to answer Dean in kind, which is precisely what Dean will try to provoke.
The president is going to have to run as president – of all Americans. In the final analysis, this is Bush’s true nature, and he is at his strongest, most appealing when he stands tall. He has also an authentic gift of the common touch, an ability to communicate one-to-one with his fellow Americans in language they also use and understand. He instinctively understands the differences between stature and arrogance, confiding and pandering.
Not a One-Man Job
Bush can be counted on to run the right kind of mature campaign. But he is going to need the help of every last Republican.
Trouble is, there are not enough to elect any president. Bush’s re-election hinges on his ability to reach out into the broader mainstream of American society and touch the hearts and minds of decent folks of whatever political denomination. He can do it, too.
It will require also the help of conscientious Democrats and those politically unaffiliated, who can give this Republican president a new majority substantial enough to govern with vigor and accountability.
There Is a Way
Out of this remarkable coalition must emerge a wholly different kind of American political party – somewhere to the right of center, which is where most Americans feel at home, but not so far as to cause them to feel on unfamiliar ground away from home.
That is the only way for America to thread its way through the complex triple dilemma of this dangerous election of 2004 and safely onto the uncharted, perilous seas of this dawning century.
If Howard Dean has unwittingly supplied the catalyst for this, then his rude arrival upon the American political scene will not have been a pox after all.
John L. Perry, a prize-winning newspaper editor and writer who served on White House staffs of two presidents, is a regular columnist for NewsMax.com.
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Missouri | 221.00 |
6 |
36.83 |
331 |
0.67 |
198.00 |
14 |
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Republicans have been very afraid of alienating moderate DemocRats for a very long time, and why? A true DemocRat will not vote for a Republican under any condition; the kid gloves have done nothing to gain votes for Republicans!
Let Karl Rove have full lead. Let's produce ads that depict liberals as the allies of hypermurderer Uncle Joe Stalin (as the most steadfast liberals are). Expose liberals as friends of Castro, the murderer and prison master of those who dissent from the Party line (as he is). Dean is at the head of this entire pack, the leader of the enemies of liberty. They should be depicted as they really are, without fear, since it is the truth.
That's not the case with Lieberman, is it? My biggest beef with him is his complicity in trying to steal the 2000 election. But I haven't heard any outlandish Bush-hatred or America-hatred from him.
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