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Who Speaks for Democrats?
National Politics Comments (2)
On Monday, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean (what a sexist title for a party that prides itself on having moved past such) said that Republicans are “not very friendly to different kinds of people, they are a pretty monolithic party … it’s pretty much a white, Christian party.”
Well, since I’m a white Christian Republican, I guess I can’t take too much umbrage at someone characterizing my political party as a reflection of me. But, the reaction of other Democrats has caused me to take a bit of pause. In its “Dean Defends Criticism of Republican Party” article, the Washington Post paraphrases three rather prominent Democrats:
Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday that Dean is doing a good job, but is not the party’s spokesman.Last weekend, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and 2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards criticized Dean for his recent remarks, saying he doesn’t speak for them.
This causes me to wonder: Who does speak for the Democrats if the Chairman of their National Committee does not? People expect Ken Mehlman and Howard Dean to speak for their parties. After all, is this not the job of the titular head of a political party?
While it is true that Dean is a polarizing figure (moreso than even President Bush), Chairman Dean is not asked to appear on the Sunday talk show circuit because he simply makes for good copy. If that were the case, then why do we not still suffer through H. Ross Perot pull out his charts and saying “Now let me explain something here for you people…”? He was certainly polarizing enough in 1992 and 1996, but after the Reform Party began to distance itself from in 1998 and 1999 (the run-up to the 2000 election), he stopped making the news in any significant way other than the odd business page article dealing with one of his corporations.
The answer, as obvious as it is, is that Howard Dean does, in fact, speak for the Democrats. Whether that is to their credit or not is something for you to decide.
MickC @ June 8, 2005
I put a collection of the Dean gaffes here: http://lillyandvince.com/dean
Hope you like it.
I love it! Keep up the good work!