In Vermont, Dean was popular in the business community because he made deals with them that alienated the state's environmentalists. Now, on the campaign trail, Dean rails against business and quipped in one interview that it's time to "reregulate" U.S. industry. As governor, Dean governed like Clinton--only to pronounce, in a recent, high-profile policy speech, that it was time to get past the "damage control" of the Clinton years.
But, however politically convenient in the Democratic primaries, those statements represent a logical updating of Clintonism rather than a rejection of it. For one thing, a primary rationale for Clintonism was to restore faith in government so future Democrats could put it to good use. As Clinton himself suggested in a November 2003 interview with The American Prospect's Michael Tomasky, "Democrats ought to all pocket some of the gains I made." More important, Dean's modest departures make perfect sense given what has happened in the last few years. After all, what sane person familiar with Enron and other corporate scandals wouldn't argue for increasing the regulation of business?
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