LA Times Editorial: Is Dean the Dems Cinderella Man?

LA Times Editorial (6-12-05)

Howard Dean has become the Russell Crowe of the Democratic Party. But unlike Crowe, who has been profusely apologizing for beaning a hotel concierge with a telephone in a fit of bad temper, Dean shows no signs of contrition for the intemperate rhetorical blasts that he sent flying in the direction of the GOP last week.

Dean presents a conundrum for embattled Democrats, who have lost control of the White House and Congress. There are two ways for them to think about him. One is that he's a reckless, emotional politician whose fiery remarks will stir up debate and help the Democratic Party. The other is that he's a reckless, emotional politician whose name-calling cheapens the national debate on issues and hurts his own party...

...Recycling old saws about the GOP being the party of the rich ignores the fact that one of the reasons the Democrats have been faring so poorly in recent elections is that they've lost the white working-class vote. If Dean spent his time pointing to inequitable tax policies that punish the middle class and reward the rich, or dwelling on the costs of restricting stem cell research, that would be one thing. Instead, he is indulging in outdated caricatures of Republican voters.

So far, Dean has done a good job of pulling the party together — the Republican Party. His counterproductive message is a problem for the Democratic Party. And the fact that the opposition party is in too much disarray to seriously engage the issues is a problem for our democracy. We'd be equally concerned if it were the Republicans who'd turned to their own version of a Howard Dean for leadership.