Posted on 01/29/2004 12:00:22 PM PST by .cnI redruM
My work here is done. I've loved writing the Diary of a Dean-o-phobe, but it's no longer necessary.
Not that anybody is going to plead with me to continue, but I thought I'd give my reasons for stopping. First, obviously, Dean is finished as a potential nominee. He's blown all his money, his campaign is in disarray, and he's turned to an inside-the-Beltway Democrat to run his campaign. Dean may well play a potent spoiler role, but it's almost impossible to see him winning. Even if he somehow pulls out a majority of delegates and goes to a brokered nomination, the other candidates will pool their delegates and select a non-Dean.
Second, not only is Dean's nomination dead, Deanism is dead as well. By "Deanism" I don't mean Dean's mix of issue positions, or his novel strategy of Internet organizing (which, I hope, will become a model for Democrats in the future). What I mean by Deanism is the belief that some combination of technology and Dean's charisma can somehow suspend all the known laws of politics, that liberals can wish away unpleasant facts about the American electorate, and that the failure to do so represents cowardice, betrayal, and the absence of principle. Some version of this fantasy has always existed on the margins of both parties. But Dean's campaign gave it new potency, and caused intelligent and skeptical people to take it seriously, even to believe in it. Thankfully, this myth has been dispelled before it was too late. It's apparent to just about everybody--except, perhaps, the die-hards on the left who always believed it--that neither Dean nor anybody else has the ability to conjure millions of new voters out of thin air merely by making the differences between Republicans and Democrats sufficiently stark. I started this diary to argue against Deanism, and now the argument has been won.
Finally, John Kerry takes all the fun out of Dean-o-phobia. Indeed, if there's anybody who could make Dean attractive, it's Kerry. Kerry is a miserable candidate, bereft of political skills, and possessing of a record and a persona tailor-made for Karl Rove. The Republicans will merely have to say about Kerry what they said about Gore--that he wants to be on every side of every issue, that he's culturally out of touch with mainstream America, that he's a pompous bore--and this time the sale will be easier, because all these things are far more true of Kerry than of Gore. I'd love to see the Democrats nominate Wes Clark, who still has great potential as a general election candidate, or John Edwards, who has great potential not only as a candidate but as a president also. (For months I've been saying Edwards would make the best president and Clark, due to his unbeatable resumé, the best nominee. I'm now thinking Edwards's skills may nearly make up for his less-formidable resumé.) Failing that, I'd take Kerry over Dean, but it's a choice of defeat over disaster, akin to--as my colleague Frank Foer puts it--the Republicans selecting Bob Dole over Pat Buchanan in 1996.
I suppose it's possible that some undetected wave could lift Dean into contention once again, forcing me to restart this blog. Until then, I'll return to the pages of The New Republic. Hope to see you there.
This from a 'rat makes me feel better about the hagiography the media is doing with J F'ing Kerry this week.
His fellow generals have nothing but contempt for him. You have to read between the lines of his resume.
I also felt uneasy about Kerry, and for the same reason, but the more I read about him, the better I feet. He is SO far left, left even to Chappaquidick Teddy, that a collection of his votes and statements regarding the military in particular, and the national defense in general, will embarass Kerry into defeat. Not a landslide, mind you, but a certain defeat nevertheless.
Regards.
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