esrosedotblog

CHAIN REACTION

There is no denying that Dean is in a bad place right now. The blowup from his post-caucus speech is phenomenal. I think that it is the one thing that 'they' were waiting for and he gave it to 'them'.

Who are them? Well, just about anyone who has an investment in the status quo and that includes a lot of Demos. Then, there is the whole thing about being decorous in your discourse; to say nothing about the hot hot lights of tee vee and the need to be cool cool cool in the face of the coverage. This is the culture; Mom and Dad looking over your shoulder: 'don't make waves'. 'Shhhhh'.

Of course, Dean has not helped. He was an outsider then went inside sucking up to Gore (the kiss of death--it is a given--did you see him make a great global warming speech on the coldest day of the year? Only Al could get that kind of timing) and Jimmy C. He shimmied around and got co-opted. Outsiders shouldn't be too anxious for approval. Sure, be grateful; but don't drag the endorser around like a dog with a new toy. And then Diane Sawyer. Oh dear. The ultimate co-option, with the sighs and apologies and the attempt to finesse their great relationship into something that would be more, well, conventional. We could blame the 'campaign'--Trippi and the others--but it is the Man who makes the decisions good or bad, openeyed or not.

And so on. I do not want to add on the tons of analysis. I have not jumped ship. I think that he is a good guy and what is needed and probably unelectable. The masters of the political form would have at him with the tricks and the twists and the pirouettes. This may not be the time where 'it' comes all together; but Howard Dean is the first wave in an oncoming tide. They think that this is anger? Wait and see real anger if things do not change in the country and in the party.