Candidate not ready for prime time
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By MARIANNE MEANS
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
Wednesday, July 2, 2003
WASHINGTON -- As he made his presidential bid official last week, some of the early excitement was fading from Howard Dean's campaign.
With his outsider's antiwar pitch and his air of independence, the former Vermont governor has elbowed his way out of the "who's he?" category into serious contention for the 2004 Democratic nomination. But recent verbal blunders indicate that his lack of Washington experience might be a distinct drawback.
Dean, a physician by profession, has patterned his campaign after Arizona Sen. John McCain's insurgent "Straight Talk Express" in the 2000 Republican primaries. Dean is selling himself as a guy who lays it on the line. An imitation, however, is never as good as the original.
McCain's candor had impact because as a Senate veteran, he knew what he was talking about. It is not clear that Dean does. Or that, in a pinch, he is all that candid.
Dean, 54, has separated himself from the rest of the Democratic pack with relentless criticism of President Bush's interventionist foreign policy. By contrast, in varying degrees, his most important rivals have backed the Iraq War.
He says his support is built from mouse pads, and indeed he has extensively utilized the Internet to solicit donations. Yet in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary, he trails Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry by 9 points.
With the formal announcement, it was supposed to be Dean's big week of major media buzz. But the buzz was decidedly mixed.
His teenage son was caught with four buddies who were arrested for breaking into a country-club beer locker, an awkward development for any candidate stressing family values. He was interviewed by Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press," and he bombed. He was as shallow and uninformed as Sen. John Edwards, whose candidacy has been staggering under a similarly pitiful earlier performance ever since.
And Dean wasn't nearly as pleasant on screen as Edwards had been. He came across as impatient and snappish.
The former governor might have been so distracted by his son's troubles that he failed to prepare adequately for the interview. But presidential candidates have an obligation to remain focused on their message, no matter the chaos in their personal lives. This is not a harmless game of tiddlywinks. And "Meet the Press" is a big deal.
Dean is famous for speaking spontaneously. Increasingly, it seems that he could use a well-rehearsed text or two. He ducked several questions for which he should have had answers.
He couldn't say whether he supported the complicated Medicare bill moving through Congress. He said that he didn't like the bill but he didn't want to offend Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, who supports it.
"It's a political Washington type of trap, and it's a terrible, terrible dilemma for the Democratic senators to be in," he said.
Similarly, he was undecided about the wisdom of a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, which he has favored in the past. "I go back and forth on that," he said.
Although, as governor, he signed a measure allowing gay couples to legally merge in civil unions, he refused to say whether as president he would recognize the legality of a gay marriage performed for Americans in Canada. "I can't answer that question because it's a legal question," he said.
Asked about his past opposition to the death penalty, Dean said he had partially changed his mind, but his reasoning was rambling and incoherent. He denied Russert's charge that he had been forced to apologize three times to fellow candidates for remarks that were out of line. In a rhetorical tap dance worthy of Bill Clinton, he agreed he'd said he was "sorry" but said he didn't consider that an apology.
He said we need more troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, although when pressed he did not know how many were there now or how many more would be required. If elected, "I will have the kinds of people around me who can tell me these things," he said.
Earlier, Dean had accused his Democratic rivals of needing a "backbone transplant." But when asked who he was talking about, he refused to mention any names, suggesting that his own backbone was rather rubbery.
Dean has said Vice President Al Gore should have taken the issue of gun control "off the table" in the 2000 election because it cost him three states. But Dean wouldn't say in the interview why it shouldn't be debated. "Well, you can debate it all you want," he snapped irritably.
One disastrous interview does not spell the end for Howard Dean. He faces a far bigger problem -- whether he is perceived as too weak on national-defense issues, reminiscent of George McGovern. That would really do him in.
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Marianne Means is Washington, D.C., columnist with Hearst Newspapers. Copyright 2003 Hearst Newspapers. She can be reached at 202-298-6920 and means@hearstdc.com
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