The Denouement of Howard Dean? -- Washington Post

[camera obscura]

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the man regarded by many sharp political operatives as the progenitor of President-elect Barack Obama's successful 2008 campaign, finds himself without an obvious next job as his tenure at the head of the Democratic National Committee comes to an end.

Those closest to Dean insist that he has any number of job offers to weigh (although they wouldn't expound on any specifics), is traveling to Europe three times early in 2009 to advise progressive parties abroad about the lessons learned from the 2008 campaign and is speaking out on his pet issue -- health care -- as he did on Wednesday at a speech to the National Institutes of Health.

And yet, it's hard not see Dean as a lesson in how political hardball is played in Washington. Never liked by establishment party figures -- Dean publicly feuded with incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel when the latter was at the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 election cycle -- Dean finds himself on the outside looking in as a new Democratic Administration comes to town.

"Frankly, given all he did, the whole situation is as unexpected as it is disappointing," said one Democratic source who was close to Dean during the 2004 campaign.

The source noted that not only did Dean's own presidential bid lay the technological foundation for the successes of Obama but also that the chairman's unbending enforcement of the rules of the primary -- stripping Florida and Michigan of their delegates and their meaningfulness -- played a large role in Obama's victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton. "I guess it proves that no good deed goes unpunished," said the source.

more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/12/the_decline_of_dean.html

:(

[Javaman]

1. Well, he could always go back to private practice, right?

:shrug:

I mean, isn't that what most public officials do anyway?

[deaniac21]

2. I don't think he has practiced medicine in decades. He has a

political calling now.

[WI_DEM]

3. He will land on his feet.

[camera obscura]

6. I hope you're right.

[mzmolly]

4. Obama is a brilliant man, but he's foolish to some extent if he doesn't

put Howard Dean to good use. And, that's the worst thing I've ever said about Mr. Obama. ;)

[JamesA1102]

5. Not very surprising.

The handwriting was on the wall last summer when Obama took Dean out of the loop by moving several DNC functions and staffers to Chicago and away from Dean in Washington. Dean was never a member of Obama's team and despite popular myth the Obama campaign did not engage in the "50 State" strategy.