Dean on Damage-Control Mission
By JODI WILGOREN
December 20, 2003
CLINTON, Iowa, Dec. 19 — <font size=4>Howard Dean and his aides scrambled on Friday to show off their ties to the Clinton administration. They were trying to undo any damage done on Thursday, when Dr. Dean, in a speech on domestic policy, offended party moderates who thought they saw an implicit slap at the Democratic Party's most recent occupant of the White House.
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Campaign aides circulated a two-page memorandum that outlined the history of the relationship between Bill Clinton and Dr. Dean, including quotations from each laying garlands of good will upon the other.
Clintonites-turned-Deaniacs called reporters to explain what their new standard-bearer had meant.
The candidate himself, after calling the former president to clear up things, made sure to mention him at a town hall meeting in Burlington, saying, "We're going to take back the country of Harry Truman, the country of Franklin Roosevelt, the country of Bill Clinton."
As he flew to Iowa from Trenton, where he picked up endorsements from Gov. James E. McGreevey, 35 other elected officials and 19 local party leaders, Dr. Dean said: "We're not going to turn our backs on Clinton. We're not that crazy."
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Several alumni of the Clinton administration said they thought that Dr. Dean, former governor of Vermont, was doing just that on Thursday, when he quoted Mr. Clinton's famous statement, "The era of big government is over," and declared, "I believe we must enter a new era for the Democratic Party."
"I reject the notion that damage control must be our credo," he added.
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On Friday, Jeremy Ben-Ami, a deputy policy director in Mr. Clinton's first term, called former colleagues to say that he had written those lines for Dr. Dean and that they had been misinterpreted.
"It's not intended in any way to pick a fight with the Clinton legacy," said Mr. Ben-Ami, whose former boss, Bruce Reed, had called the speech "a cheap shot." "It is intended to pick a fight with the Washington Democrats in power.
"The issue is not a fight over what the Clinton administration did in the past. The issue is a fight over what the Democratic Party is doing now and in the future."
In the memorandum given to reporters, the campaign said that Dr. Dean "has great respect and admiration" for Mr. Clinton" and that "any suggestion to the contrary is nonsense." It noted that Dr. Dean had supported overhauling the welfare program and Mr. Clinton's economic program, had helped Hillary Rodham Clinton "lead the fight" for universal health care and, while chairman of the National Governors Association, had "worked closely" with the administration.
Under the heading "Clinton on Dean," the memorandum cited Mr. Clinton's statement here that "nobody did a better job on health care" than Dr. Dean. It noted that Dr. Dean had frequently consulted with Mr. Clinton in the campaign.
He pointed out on the plane on Friday that they had spoken within the last week, after former Vice President Al Gore endorsed him, and they connected again on Friday afternoon, as Dr. Dean drove from Burlington to Davenport before heading here for a pancake breakfast on Saturday morning.
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