Howard Dean is my hero. And if you are, like me, dismayed by the direction the country's been going in lately, he should be your hero too.
Conservative Republicans have been steering the nation ever since the 2000 election fiasco, and the past few years haven't been fun for those of us who are frustrated at the course they have chosen. In the first half of his term, President George W. Bush has waylaid the environment through his pro-business picks to head the Environmental Protection Agency, his refusal to sign the Kyoto treaty and his ostrich-in-the-sand insistence that global warming is not a real phenomenon. He has advocated tax cuts -- and tax cuts for those who need it least, the wealthy -- when the country is suffering from the worst budget crises it's seen in years. The president has threatened women's right to choose at home and imposed Christian conservative views on the rest of the world through his imposition of the global gag rule. He has allowed his attorney general to threaten Americans' basic civil liberties. Through his refusal to sign arms treaties with Russia and his recent decision to pursue essentially unilateral action in Iraq, he has alienated many potential allies and severely weakened the ability of international governing bodies to pursue peaceful resolutions to conflicts.
All of which begs the question: Where the hell have the Democrats been?
It would be nice if the Democratic Party leadership had some explanation for their complete irrelevance of late. Sadly, they don't have anything like a viable excuse, such as being stranded on an island in the middle of the Pacific for the past two years, without telephones and only a volleyball for company. They've been in Washington, but it hasn't done the Democratic Party much good.
The current party regulars have left a great sucking void of Democratic leadership in Washington, offering few alternatives -- and few clear signs of opposition -- to Bush's actions over the past two years. Most recently, they have failed to challenge Bush effectively on his foreign policy decisions. With the opposition silent, the American people are left with no choices; the Bush course, it appears, is the only course to follow. Discussion and policy debate between parties has been replaced by a one-note, ceaseless honking coming only from the right side of the aisle.
With the absence of viable alternatives, it's no surprise that the tide of public opinion is heading in the conservative direction, with the Republicans defeating the Democrats in the midterm elections and Fox News' anti-French, pro-Bush war coverage soundly trouncing CNN and MSNBC in ratings. The public will take whatever leadership they can get, and right now the conservatives are the only ones who are giving it.
The question for Democrats becomes, then, which one of the nine potential presidential nominees will give the Democratic Party its voice back -- and its teeth. The question for voters in primaries, more specifically, is to whom they should give the party nomination.
If you were paying attention at the beginning of this column, you'll know my answer: Howard Dean.
It may seem safe to go to the Democratic Party regulars for the nomination, but it's not. The old hands have proven, in the past few years, that they are unable to capture the imagination of the American people and provide voters with a real alternative to the Bush agenda.
Howard Dean fits the bill as a charismatic and viable candidate. He is a moderate liberal with a record of fiscal conservatism. During his tenure in Vermont, of which he was governor for eight years, he paid off the state's $70 million deficit and was able to cut taxes through sound fiscal management. Among other health care successes, including helping seniors afford prescription drugs, he worked on a program to insure health coverage for every child under the age of 18 in Vermont. He protected the environment by working to cut air pollution and ensuring the preservation of more than a million acres of forests and farmland.
And at a time when a viable candidate has to be considered as a potential commander in chief, he hits the mark. He outspokenly opposed war in Iraq but supports possible military intervention in countries proven to have nuclear weapons programs, like North Korea. He has laid out a plan for multilateral reconstruction in Iraq, something our current president has yet to do.
For true policy debates to start happening, Democrats need someone who is not afraid to criticize the current administration and who doesn't fail to follow criticism up with viable policy alternatives.
Democrats need an anti-Gore, an un-Gephardt, and not someone, like Joe Lieberman, who could be nicknamed Bush Lite. They need Howard Dean.
Yes, he has liabilities. He will have to fight perceptions that he's too liberal, despite his record of fiscal conservatism and moderate policies. He's got a slightly cheesy campaign slogan ("The Doctor Is In"). But he is the real thing, and he just might be able to put the Democratic Party -- and the country -- back on track.
(Laura Sahramaa's column appeared Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at lsahramaa@cavalierdaily.com.)
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