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Why, yes, as a matter of fact, Howard Dean does speak for me.

Beautifully done short video/audio montage about the ideals at the center of the Dean movement —

http://www.thankyouhoward.com/

This reminds my why I found such hope in the Dean movement — and why, even now, I still do.

My hunch is this is the kind of integrity and core values that all of us who care about such things are looking for. It’s a quality that knows no political party boundaries. Mr. Bush offered depth like this as a teaser, but it was a façade — and a betrayal.

I passionately want a real “uniter not a divider” — and I have a reasonably keen bullshit detector for those who claim to be but aren’t. Since I expect many of us agree on what we actually want, and many of us have now, in the wake of the present betrayal, had a fresh bullshit detector tuneup, I think we can finally move forward, more together than before, toward our common goal.

I intend to work over as many election cycles as it takes to move ideal and implementation closer together.

Voting in the Tennessee primary last Tuesday must’ve been a Dean support closure thing for me, a last-reserves burst of energy like the final moments before crossing a 10K race finish line. I crossed it, and now I’m temporarily out of glycogen.

I really didn’t realize just how much sustaining hope I was deriving from the Dean campaign’s ideals and my support of them — and just how little wherewithal I’d have left for anyone else.

I’m around, just sitting down fer a spell to ketch my breaf.

I am so thankful to Dr. Dean — and to the movement he’s started — for rekindling hope in me and giving a spine transplant to the Democratic Party in the U.S. that I’m marching out the door Tuesday morning (February 10) to vote for Dean in the Tennessee primary.

Howard Dean is the only presidential candidate in my lifetime whose campaign I’ve been passionate about — it’s helped me believe my participation makes a difference, and that collectively we the people can take back our country. We can transform our country into one characterized by courage, straight talk, trustworthiness, balanced budgets, and healthy relationships among ourselves and with the world.

My vote will be one fully for Dean; any other vote would be lessened by being partly for the candidate but mostly against someone else. I am tired of voting for the lesser of two evils, and this day, for once in my memory, I won’t have to.

Of course I’m disappointed that the numbers of us choosing to vote similarly isn’t surging, whatever the reasons. One reason gives me pause about the efficacy of democracy’s equal voting representation: when I consider that someone who makes a voting decision Tuesday AM based on the front page of Tuesday’s USA Today has exactly the same political decision-making input I do when I’ve been studying these guys for seven months, it seems not quite right.

But in the end I let go of that conceit and insist that all of us have voices. Commitment to this democratic ideal implies a next step of reforming the media back to being a diverse chorus of voices and views for people to consider instead of being a monotonous, far-too-influential, agenda-laden handful of voices as it is now. A healthy democracy requires a diverse and informed electorate, not one misled by talking heads’ talking points.

For example, what’s up with the media declaring any candidate the winner when most of the nation’s primary voters haven’t yet cast a vote? That just doesn’t make sense in something called a democracy.

A Rainbow Brightens the Day, © caitlin conoverWhat happened to grace? Given primary results so far, is my earlier discernment without merit? — that “Dr. Dean’s campaign is where the grace falls. If God indeed guides our paths, rescuing us from ourselves — and of course I think he does — then this is where I sense he’s busiest. And where he’s smiling.”

Maybe. But because I credit the Dean campaign with initiating the tectonic plate shift that’s begun in U.S. politics, I think I was in the ballpark but without any sense of the final score, something that happens to me all the time.

I amuse myself thinking that intuition-plus-discernment is like a barometer that makes sweeping atmospheric change visible well before its effects appear (clear skies, raindrops). The data provided by a barometer yield no precise forecasts on their own, but we still value the barometer’s input in revealing invisible trends.

The situation as I see it theologically: The God of scripture and my experience is a God of transformation. And transformation finally appears to be underway in our U.S. political landscape. The Dean Phenomenon by most accounts has played an important role in initiating and fueling this transformation: Dr. Dean’s ideas are alive and well, having been appropriated into and now transforming the candidacies of those around him. Hence I think I can still sanely infer that Dean’s campaign is where the grace falls.

Now where grace rains down next will be interesting to see. Maybe it’s spreading further than I had dared imagine.

It has felt like rain in the desert, and I’m thankful for every drop.

2004-02-09 update: Jon Carroll captures the essence of Dean’s contribution very skillfully in SF Chronicle column Thank Howard Dean for Leading His Party Out of the Darkness.

Tonight as I turn in before voting tomorrow AM, I’m pondering the out-of-control budget deficit (and worse, debt) situation we’re facing in the United States, and thinking how much we need Dean’s year-in, year-out budget balancing expertise at our financial rudder. I imagine his “doctor’s bluntness” could help in this situation: We’re going to stop this hemorrhage so you won’t die. But it’s going to hurt. Much saner than “you can have it all, including Mars, and tax cuts, too.”

2004-02-10 update: Done! I stared at the glowing red LED beside “Howard Dean” for a long time before I pressed the VOTE button, remembering, savoring. Making a fully congruent vote like this is a matter of joyous significance for me; it’s my first in a quarter-century of voting AFAICR.

Steph and I were two among a total of four voters in our precinct at 8:15 AM. I don’t know if that’s a data point pointing to a poor primary turnout in Tennessee, or that we live in an intractably Republican suburb whose voters by and large see no need to vote today.

My rules of thumb:
Vote your conscience in a primary — forget “electability.”
Vote the best interests of your country and the world in a general
(which in the U.S. too often means choosing the least-bad candidate among those left standing).

I am still pro-Dean, and always will be, but I hereby expand my scope to ABB.

I am absolutely flabbergasted:
Media admits Dean “scream” was a cheer in the midst of a roaring crowd.

Small step though this is, and late in coming, I still appreciate it because I expected no acknowledgement at all from the media that anything wrong was done.

ABC News and Diane Sawyer have aired a mea culpa concerning the media’s hyperplay of Howard Dean’s “primal scream” speech following the Iowa caucuses on Monday, January 19. Read what I’m talking about at ABC’s The Dean Scream: The version of reality that we didn’t see on TV (alt article), and watch the video (alt video).

After my interview with Dean and his wife in which I played the tape again — in fact played it to them — I noticed that on that tape he’s holding a hand-held microphone. One designed to filter out the background noise. It isolates your voice, just like it does to Charlie Gibson and me when we have big crowds in the morning. The crowds are deafening to us standing there.

But the viewer at home hears only our voice.

So, we collected some other tapes from Dean’s speech including one from a documentary filmmaker, tapes that do carry the sound of the crowd, not just the microphone he held on stage. …

Dean’s boisterous countdown of the upcoming primaries as we all heard it on TV was isolated, when in fact he was shouting over the roaring crowd.

And what about the scream as we all heard it? In the room, the so-called scream couldn’t really be heard at all. Again, he was yelling along with the crowd.

This glimmer of integrity on the part of Diane Sawyer and ABC News — and I’ll assume it’s indeed integrity instead of anything less savory — makes my day. Not just because I’m a Dean fan but also because this tidbit sets me dreaming of a world in which mainstream media coverage actually is fair and balanced (or at least in the F&B ballpark) instead of superficial, repetitious, and often therefore misleading, sometimes to the point of slander.

This piece along with Diane’s lame-questioned but good-natured — and surprisingly compelling — interview with Howard and Judy Dean last Thursday (transcript and video links) has me prepared to wipe Diane’s slate clean, to give her a fresh chance. Hey, it feels great to do this! Hmmm …

Now if Bill Maher revokes his “new rule” that says — as a result of the TV version of the scream speech — that Uncle Howie is the “creepy guy,” then I’d really be a happy man. :-)

Update: To the objection that the TV version is what matters, I say, No — the real life version — of just about everything — is what really matters. Getting real is essential for engaging and solving the intractable social problems before us. Just playing a politician on TV doesn’t cut it.

Dr. Dean meets my realness criterion, and more important, his campaign is inspiring further realness to bloom in people all around the country. It’s this inspired realness — this hope, this talent, this engagement, this passion — among hundreds of thousands of us that’s even now changing the fabric of our country.

Is there steam enough in this to win? I don’t know. Is there enough to make a difference? Oh, yes.

Wow, I had almost forgotten I can dance to this vision thing. I’ve been sitting too long.

2004-02-01 update: Magnanimous as I was trying to be above, it’s still important to point out that the deliberate escalation of this “scream” nonevent into a national scene preoccupying the airwaves was attempted character assassination. It was a broad jump from fact into manufactured fancy that actually accomplished more character assassination per datum than I remember ever seeing before, kind of an Olympic gold in irresponsible journalism, which is itself fascinating in a perverse sort of way.

As Krista Pollitt at The Nation memorably puts it —

This, after all, is the same media that managed to make a major scandal out of the Scream, a moment of campaign exuberance of zero importance (especially when compared with — for example! — Bush’s inability to speak two consecutive unscripted sentences that are not gibberish, his refusal to read newspapers, and the fact that much of the world thinks he’s a dangerous moron).

[originally via Dean for America]

I have never before in my 4+ decades of life been this engrossed in — and nervewracked by — political caucuses and primaries like today’s in New Hampshire. I have never before given significant sums of money to any political candidate (mine’s going to Dr. Dean). I have never before felt that the soul of our country is at stake.

This, my friends, is turning-point time, a time you’ll remember to your grandkids.

Let discernment abound. Let deliverance begin. Yeeeeeeaaarrrrrgh!

2004-01-28 update: Final results, according to CNN —

Kerry, won 39 percent of the New Hampshire vote, compared to 26 percent for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, 12 percent each for Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and 9 percent for Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

My #1 practical reason why declaring Kerry the nominee is premature:
Hardly any of my African American brothers and sisters — many of whom like to vote Democratic, as I do — have had a say in choosing the Democratic nominee. (Only two states have participated so far, and neither has many “Black or African American persons” according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2000): Iowa, 2.1% and New Hampshire, 0.7%.)

My #1 personal reason why declaring Kerry the nominee is premature:
I still want a candidate I can vote for with knowledge and enthusiasm (for Dean), not one for whom my vote — while still a certainty — is really a vote against someone else (for Kerry against Bush).

The biggest and best news from New Hampshire? — The record turnout (“estimated at about 200,000, compared to the previous high of 168,000 in 1992”). This level of voter participation is a good sign, an early data point in what I hope becomes a trend: the more we citizens participate, the more vital and representative is our democracy, no matter which candidate we elect to the White House.

Yesterday I was peering into what’s behind this week’s tidal wave of Democratic candidate Howard Dean criticism and merrymaking. As ABC News put it —

Dean’s guttural yells Monday night punctuated his poor finish [in Iowa] and raised questions about his political judgment and temperament. …

A humbled Howard Dean, saying “I have my warts. I sometimes say things that get me in trouble,” argued Thursday that voters will see through his flaws and rally to his troubled presidential candidacy.

I have a scream. Dean’s post-caucus Iowa speech on Monday night, variously called his “barbaric yawp” or “primal scream” speech, is here (Real video). I see fatigue-induced goofiness, maybe, but crazy? Nearly every football game I’ve ever been to is crazier than this. Looks like everyone there was having fun.

Why is it not “presidential” for Dean to coach and rev his tired supporters after a disappointing finish in Iowa, but is “presidential” for Bush to look and sound like — let’s face it — a total effing moron illiterate on national TV?

We’re being way too gullible to what the media tubesters tell us. Most of us can think for ourselves, so why the hell aren’t we?

As Dr. Dean said later about the event, “I was giving everything to people who gave everything to me.”

[2004-01-24 insert: Remixes of this event have become an Internet phenomenon. What started as ridicule has become a vehicle for getting the message out — cool! Some remixes are funny, and this one, You’ve Got the Power (MP3 audio, 3.9MB), is outright inspiring. See DeanGoesNuts.com for more.]

I am one voter — a Christian voter in the U.S. South — who likes this passion and this whole-person commitment. I’ll spit out lukewarm in a heartbeat, just like someone else I know.

So why do I find this campaign hot? Because I want my country back. I want hope, not hopelessness. Cooperation, not division. Straight talk that doesn’t insult my intelligence, not secrecy, empty promises, and lies. Compassion, not disdain for everyone who’s different. Responsibility, not the wanton squandering of lives and resources. In particular, fiscal responsibility, not the saddling of our children and our children’s children with debt. Faithfulness, not the blasphemy of associating God’s name with behavior God abhors.

What a difference a day makes —

Dr. Judy in the house. Last night Diane Sawyer interviewed Howard and Judy Dean on Primetime Live (transcript and video links). The realness, warmth, and candor conveyed in this interview confirms my longstanding discernment that Dr. Dean’s campaign is where the grace falls. If God indeed guides our paths, rescuing us from ourselves — and of course I think he does — then this is where I sense he’s busiest. And where he’s smiling.

[2004-01-24 insert: Naturally now I can’t help but wonder if this wacky remix phenom might be another case of “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Joseph, Gen. 50:20). :-) ]

We may yet derail what’s going on — and/or I could be <gasp> wrong about its details — but this burst of sunlight gets me back to knowing that we are being cared for.

2004-01-29 update: For my notes (and links) concerning Diane Sawyer’s surprise mea culpa — an apology of sorts for contributing to the media’s gross misrepresentation of this speech — see blog entry If Howard screams in a crowd, can anybody hear it?.

I’ve been watching Crossfire for several weeks now. But not because I particularly like it or its often absurd reduction of important issues to 15-second soundbites and 30-second “debates.” Instead I’m watching it to hone my swordsmanship against aggressive, content-free arguments like those skillfully wielded by Tucker and Bob. You know the kind, logically unsound but forcibly presented, and thereby convincing to many people. Straight from their ass to my blade, so to speak.

Last week Tucker interviewed Martin Sheen and Rob Reiner on the campaign trail in Iowa where they were stumping for Howard Dean. I like both guys a lot; Martin for his acting skills and commitment to Christian social justice and pacifist causes, and Rob for being articulate and making funny and incisive movies.

Rob said something that has stuck with me —

The difference between Republicans and Democrats [is] Republicans know they’re right. Democrats entertain the possibility they might be wrong.

This seems profoundly true to me. True enough, in fact, that I doubt either party’s partisans would disagree much. Spend a couple of days watching the news and those around you through the lens of this observation, and see what you think.

I’ve realized Rob’s observation touches on one of my deepest convictions:
Those who always know they’re right can never be truly wise.

Why? Because the only way to always be right in this world is to deny all evidence that challenges that rightness.

And that, brothers and sisters, ain’t wise. It’s behavior that reminds me of the inhabitants of Lineland in Edwin Abbott’s Flatland — the Linelanders are self-satisfied and rather militantly unaware of the larger 2-dimensional universe around them. (And so on outward through the dimensions.)

Give me someone any day whose intent is good, who tries, makes mistakes, corrects, and tries again — with tenacity — over someone who always knows what’s right for themselves and for me and says to hell with me if I disagree.

Katydid splendidly nails my own perceptions of — and motivation for supporting — Howard Dean as president:

I love Dean on paper, on the internet, and in stump speeches, but there have been times on TV that I have cringed and wondered if he was up to the task at hand. But the depth of the support behind him, and the depth of his ideas, hold him up above the rest and he will be difficult to beat. I have come to the realization that I am Dean all the way, no matter what he says, because I trust him and his instincts. It’s very strange, because he no longer has to sell himself to me. It’s the materiality, all that he brings with him. I want all of it, so I want him, no matter what.

Yes, where by materiality I assume K means what I’d say as substantiveness, and wherein I note such trust doesn’t come easily to me and I don’t place it lightly — but after hundreds of hours of research I find that trust has arisen.

Thanks, Katydid.

2004-01-05 update: Outlandish Josh makes a similarly astute observation (as he’s good at doing) about why Dean supporters tend to stay onboard:

The other thing that Dean’s supporters have [besides empowerment] is consensus. Since they’ve been interlinked and empowered since the get-go, they’ve talked through almost everything.

This is not something that we’ve seen in a long long time, and it’s the heart of Dean’s “teflon” status. People who get on board remain on board because their support is based on rational conversations they’ve had and are continuing to have among themselves; and they’re always reaching out to others. Dean’s roots are a 500,000 strong rapid response team, and the campaign is making brilliant use by trusting their responses and ideas.

2004-01-20 update: After Dean’s unexpected third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses last night, the assertion above — and the reasoning behind it — is about to be put to the test. I know I’m not going anywhere. The race has certainly become more of a nail-biter now, which may turn out to be a good thing for the process: more attention, more vetting, more participation.

In the midst of today’s enthusiastic hubbub that Al Gore is likely to endorse Howard Dean for the Democratic presidential nomination, Nathan in MN at Daily Kos provides my favorite quote of the day —

Dean’s campaign is not just about changing presidents, it is about changing the entire social fabric of this country.

Yes. The whole feel of this emerging drama is mercifully different than in 2000. There is pneuma in it this time, I think.

Thanks, Nathan.

2003-12-09 update: Indeed it’s happened, and I am jubilant about what an ascendant Dean candidacy means; the whole phenomenon is breathed through with hope.

As reported by CNN, Al Gore endorses Howard Dean —

Gore said part of the reason he chose to endorse Dean was his ability to appeal to the nation’s “grassroots” elements, a reference to Dean’s success in organizing and raising funds on the Internet and in small voter gatherings.

The Dean phenomenon has proven that grassroots works. You can, I can, anyone can truly make a difference. This is, in fact, what democracy is. $2000-per-plate campaign fundraisers as the price of admission — what you have to pay to play, which means hardly any of us can play — have now become optional.

Side benefit to this grassroots approach:
There is much less beholden-to-big-money sludge accumulating in this campaign.

Gore also praised Dean’s opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The former vice president called the Iraq war a “catastrophic mistake” by the Bush administration, a move that leaves the United States less effective in the nation’s battle against terrorism. …

“He was the only major candidate who made the correct judgment about the Iraq war,” Gore said. “And he had the insight and the courage to say and do the right thing. And that’s important because those judgments — that basic common sense — is what you want in a president.”

Yes, sound judgment arising from basic common sense is what I want. It is a baseline requirement in a president.

Our societal abandonment of basic common sense, a lapse we displayed so vividly in the buildup to this Iraq debacle, will be markedly less likely in the future, I think, if we’re listening to truth-telling, insightful, courageous, sensible elected leaders who credibly exercise a commitment to democracy and social justice. I am certain we’re not stupid, but we are too easily duped. It’s a bug, and we can fix it.

“When we set this event up,” Dean said to loud laughter at the rally’s start, “I had absolutely no idea that we were going to have the elected president of the United States here with us today.”

I watched Howard Dean on Hardball with Chris Matthews last night, broadcasting from the JFK, Jr. venue at Harvard University (transcript, video). Wow.

I can’t imagine George lasting five minutes in a context like that, wherein you need to be smart as a whip, historically and politically knowledgeable, think quickly on your feet, and be blisteringly articulate.

Damn, it’s exhilarating to witness principled intelligence in action!

I was sold on Dr. Dean’s principles and positions already, but man — now I find I like him.

Great response to a question about why African Americans should vote for Dean “do Republicans use race to divide whites and blacks as a campaign tactic, and how do we overcome that as a nation?”

Dean answered that this election’s focus must be on matters that are important to all of us [“our common interests”], crossing all divisions among us:

“We have got to stop having the campaigns run in this country based on abortion, guns, God, and gays, and start talking about education, jobs, and health care.” <huge applause>

Yes. The former themes — especially in the cognitively- and semantically sloppy way they’re most often used — divide us as a people; the latter can unite us.

With Dean’s campaign something new and wonderful is happening, I think, a profound grassroots phenomenon much larger than one candidate. I imagine I’m seeing democracy being reborn, like Professor Dumbledore’s elderly pet phoenix Fawkes in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, who bursts into flame as Harry watches him, only to arise again from his own ashes, fresh and new.

We may yet again achieve for ourselves — with God’s help, for real this time, eyes wide open, no hubris, no living in denial — a government that uplifts instead of crushes, empowers instead of impoverishes, welcomes instead of excludes, that is truly of the people, by the people, for the people, in place of the present one that we have nearly let the Enemy, quoting God-talk to deceive us, render into ashes.

2003-12-03 update:
Added transcript- (thanks to Rich) and video links (QT, WMP);
updated blockquote above from actual transcript.

Howard Dean in a Tuesday “Boston Tea Party” campaign speech (WaPo) —

“This democracy and the flag of the United States do not belong to Rush Limbaugh, and Jerry Falwell, and Tom DeLay, and John Ashcroft, and Dick Cheney,” Dean said as he listed prominent conservatives. “This flag and this country belong to us and we want our country back.”

Damn straight.

What’s called for, IMO, is a national exorcism. These guys front a principality of darkness, and it’s outstayed its welcome. Bring on the pea soup if you must, but it’s time to go.

According to the WaPo yesterday, Gen. Clark Reportedly Is Asked to Join Dean (as Democratic candidates for U.S. president/vice president).

My impression? Dream team.

And not just because both Dr. Dean and Gen. Clark appear to be decent, real, articulate, intelligent human beings. That alone would be a breath of fresh air. But much more important is the spirit behind them for which they’re a visible face, a whole movement for justice (of the true biblical kind, generally speaking, IMO) that gives me hope and determination to engage again in the real nitty-gritty life of the world.

Maybe I’m overstating the case, but to be able to be hopeful again about the possibilities for our future — as a country and as a world — is for me an answer to prayer.

Already-present upside: I’m not angry for the first time in nearly two years. As more of us wake up to the chronic injustice and global destruction wrought by the Bush Administration — finally a majority of us in the U.S. are awake now as polled by Zogby (my interpretation) — I’m able to let go and rest.

Anyone else experiencing this sense of relief, this lifting of weight? The sea change in perceptions that began in July is becoming visible everywhere now. I think we’re finally escaping the clutches of deceit.

Later in the day, 3:13 PM ET:

According to the AP, Clark set to enter 2004 presidential race as 10th Democratic candidate (also here).

Really, it’s this aspect of Gen. Clark that revs up my enthusiasm at his participation in any capacity, whether as presidential or VP nominee (or even as Secretary of Defense):

Clark has a resume that unnerves potential rivals — Rhodes scholar, first in his 1966 class at West Point, White House fellow, head of the U.S. Southern Command and NATO commander during the 1999 campaign in Kosovo.

I insist on smart leaders. If that’s being prejudiced against dumb leaders, then so be it.

Yeah, baby. I find the idea of a Dean Administration as exhilarating as I find the Bush Administration soul-deadening. There’s life in one, death in the other; hope in one, despair in the other. Very few choices in life are this clear cut. Yes.

Click each cover above to read that magazine’s feature story. Further resources:

• Dean for America main site
• Dean for America official blog
• Another link-rich blog, Howard Dean 2004 (notable links to numerous Dean position papers)
• An independent collection of Dean2004Links
• And, more local for me, Tennessee for Howard Dean

And don’t miss tonight’s monthly National Dean in 2004 Meetup, probably meeting in your town tonight.

Howard Dean: ‘One reason America has been targeted by terrorists is that our nation is the preeminent world power. With this power comes great responsibility.’

“We must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of passing them on to future generations.”
—George W. Bush, Inaugural address, January 20, 2001

“The Bush administration has shelved a report commissioned by the Treasury that shows the U.S. currently faces a future of chronic federal budget deficits totalling at least $44,200bn [$44 trillion] in current US dollars.”
—Financial Times UK, US ‘faces future of chronic deficits’, May 29, 2003

Saddling future generations with a multi-multi-trillion dollar debt easily satisfies my definition of problem.

Okay, that’s the Treasury prognosis. Now, a diagnosis and treatment step from Dr. Dean:

“The economic plans put forth by President Bush and the Republican party are a fundamental assault on the basic American ideals that we all share — an assault on our schools, our health care, our environment and our social security.  …

“Let me be clear. The President’s tax cuts are part of a radical agenda to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, and our public schools through financial starvation.  …

“My central commitment upon taking office will be to repeal these tax cuts to put our fiscal house in order, and save the very fabric that holds our American community together.

“We will not be able to meet our fundamental obligations to teach our children, care for our parents, and defend our nation if we bankrupt our country.  …”

—Howard Dean, We must put our fiscal house in order (see also Dean for America)