THE RISE OF HOWARD DEAN -- The True Anti-Bush

THE RISE OF HOWARD DEAN
The True Anti-Bush
You can't be kind of pro-war, kind of pro-tax cuts and beat the president

By Stephen Elliott
Stephen Elliott is the author of four novels, including "What It Means to Love You," and edited the fiction anthology "Politically Inspired." He is writing a book on the 2004 election.

November 16, 2003


Because I have worked on a presidential campaign and written several political articles, my friends and students often come to me with questions on the 2004 election. Recently those questions revolve around the longevity of the Howard Dean campaign.

What I explain to everyone who is willing to buy me a beer is that one thing every candidate believes is that they can win. Of course you have to make exceptions for Denis Kucinich, who is building a movement, and Al Sharpton, who is potentially up to something more complex. But the real candidates all believe they can take it. When you scratch your head and wonder why Joseph Lieberman is still in the race, this is your answer.

When I went on the road with Howard Dean in July of this year, most of my friends didn't know who he was, and I live in San Francisco! When the Service Employees International Union backed Dean earlier this week, he went from front-runner to presumptive candidate. Of course, things can change in elections. Certainly not for Lieberman or Richard Gephardt, those guys are running on fumes. But the two Johns, Kerry and Edwards, are still circling, waiting for Dean to plow a campaign van painted as a confederate flag into an old folks home or an abortion clinic so they can make their move.

The real question is not why the unions decided to get behind Dean. They did that because they think he is going to win the nomination. But how did he get this far? Where did conventional wisdom fail us?

more........

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-vpell163543276nov16,0,1469559.story?coll=ny-lipolitics-print

I'm empathetic to some of his reasoning, although he's a Green and I'm not. Wonder where he teaches.

structure after the convention. I think that Dean will hone his own message more but that the grassroots campaign will remain. He needs our enthusiasm to counter the Rightwing enthusiasm for Bush and the power they have now to implement their neo-conservative ideology.

Dean has treated his supporters, like adults and partners in his campaign. He often says that his campaign is not about putting him in the White House as it is about putting We the People back in the White House.

Howard Dean's leadership style is more along the lines of Robert Greenleaf's the paradigm, which stressed participatory democracy over top-down hierachy. Greenleaf was an AT&T executive during the 1960's and became disgusted at the poor quality of leadership within all of our institutions -- business, religion, government, and education. He developed the Servant Leadership paradigm to counter the traditional top-down hierachal paradigm that promotes a sclerosis of imagination within the institution and aggravates leadership crisis.

Plus, even if Dean's campaign tries to clamp down on their own staff, Dean has an army of supporters that will continue being hands-on, and will do whatever it takes to get Dean elected. "Howard Dean meets Malibu Barbie" is an indication of how much time and money people will spend to get the message across any way they can that Dean is the one and only choice they can make.

Dean's people didn't get to this level because they were stupid, and they won't suddenly become stupid.