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Politics : HOWARD DEAN -THE NEXT PRESIDENT? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (940)	12/12/2003 2:53:13 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 3079

No Will to Win? The New York Times December 12, 2003 OP-ED COLUMNIST By BOB HERBERT Ready, aim. . . . The Democratic Party's circular firing squad has assembled. Everybody's angry with everybody else. Joe Lieberman is trying to extricate the knife that, in his view, Al Gore deposited in his back. Al Sharpton is accusing Mr. Gore of engaging in the kind of "bossism" that belongs "in the other party." The Gore and Clinton families are morphing into the Hatfields and the McCoys. And the runaway Dean machine, which has shown an impressive ability to amass campaign cash and early primary support, is now generating prodigious amounts of fear and loathing as well. Those cackles of glee you hear in the background are coming from the White House. One very prominent Southern Democrat, who asked not to be identified, said of Howard Dean, "This guy will take us down like the Titanic. " Representative Charles Rangel, who endorsed Gen. Wesley Clark at a press conference in Harlem yesterday (just 24 hours after Mr. Gore endorsed Dr. Dean in Harlem), said he didn't think Dr. Dean was a sure loser. But he was openly contemptuous of the Gore-Dean alliance. "I'm here for General Clark, and people are asking me questions about Gore and Dean," he said. "The best I can figure out, they got in the cab and told the cabbie, `Take us to Harvard' - and the cabbie screwed up and took them to Harlem." The Dems may indeed sink like the Titanic next year. But I don't think Dr. Dean is the problem - at least, not yet. The problem is the party itself. God and the Republicans have blessed the Democrats with the high ground on one important issue after another, from the war in Iraq to national economic policy to health care to education to the environment. But like the Union general George McClellan, the Democrats have been too timid to take full advantage. It's a party for the faint of heart. The Republicans are hijacking elections and redistricting the country and looting the Treasury and ignoring the Constitution and embittering our allies, while the Democrats are - let's see, fumbling their way through an incoherent primary season and freaking out over Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean. One of the reasons Dr. Dean is doing so much better at this point than his primary opponents has been his combativeness, his willingness to attack and bluntly confront President Bush and his policies. "Our leaders have developed a vocabulary which has become meaningless to the American people," he said in his announcement speech in June. "There is no greater example of this than a self-described conservative Republican president who creates the greatest deficits in the history of America. Or a president who boasts of a Clear Skies Initiative which allows far more pollution into our air. Or a president who co-opts from an advocacy organization the phrase `No Child Left Behind,' while paying for irresponsible tax cuts by cutting children's health care." I don't know if Howard Dean would be able to beat George Bush. But those who are dismissing him as a sure loser should give us the name of the candidate who is so obviously more competitive. Is it Senator Lieberman? I'd like to see the odds out of Vegas if he were to go against President Bush head to head. What about John Kerry? He might make a good president but, frankly, he looks lost in the maze of primaries. General Clark? John Edwards? Any Democrat will be a long shot next year. Without an infusion of new voters (young people, white working families, Hispanics and women) and another huge turnout by African-Americans, the Democrats are doomed. The strongest ticket might be Dean-Clark. But the Democrats need more than a candidate or two. The party needs a plan. It needs a coherent, compelling, convincing narrative that shows how voters and the nation would be better off under Dr. Dean or General Clark or Dick Gephardt - take your pick - than they are now. To regain control of the White House, the Democrats need to give voters, who are frightened by terrorism and disoriented by the pace of 21st-century events, new reasons to hope. That can only be done by a thoughtful, united, energized and creative party. A party with a plan and a ferocious will to win. A party that I don't see at the moment. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company nytimes.com