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madfloridian

(88,117 posts)
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 02:07 AM Oct 2015

Kudos to Mike Lux. "The D.C. Centrists' Straw Men" His plea to Howard Dean.

I just discovered this article by Mike Lux in March of this year. He expresses so many of the concerns I have felt. He wonders how hard it is for Howard Dean to have made an endorsement early on, and then have to take public stands that go against so much he campaigned on in 2004.

Mike is covering the attack by the Third Way on Elizabeth Warren's attacks on Wall Street power and policies.

The D.C. Centrists' Straw Men

Perhaps most irritating of all, a man who has been bashed for years by a lot of these same "centrists" decided to join them in their critique. Here's Howard Dean quoted in the same article:

"Our program cannot be soak the rich -- that's a mistake and alienates middle class people. But on substance, the Warren wing is correct," said Dean.

"The rhetoric about wealth creation needs to be scaled back because Americans like wealth creation," he added. "The level playing field argument wins it for us. The reason you do not want to talk about 'tax the rich' is because when middle class people hear it, they hear 'they're going to raise our taxes.' Democrats can't do that."


He goes on to wonder how uncomfortable Dean must feel at times.

I appreciate Howard Dean saying that on substance the Warren wing is correct. And I know that, having endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016, he is now in the uncomfortable place of trying to walk a tightrope between Hillary's politics and the views of his old progressive friends. But let me reassure him and his fellow worriers: Elizabeth Warren and her fellow progressives are not, either in rhetoric or policy, anti-growth or anti-business or out to "soak" the rich (unless by "soak" you mean taxing them at the same rate as their secretaries). And to say that they are is a cliché completely unsupported by anything they are saying.

.....And I looked and looked for all the times where Warren bashes the rich or uses negative "rhetoric about wealth creation" that Dean refers to. I went through every recent speech, committee transcript, and floor debate where she spoke that I could find, and I couldn't find any instances where she said there is anything wrong with being rich or wealth creation. I couldn't find them because they don't exist. These are the ultimate "centrist" straw men that D.C. insiders set up in order to knock down: that progressive populists don't care about economic growth, and that they bash the wealthy.


This part impressed me a lot because Mike Lux has tended to be friendly toward Dean. And I have wondered also just how he feels espousing the same policies he criticized during his campaign.

Let me close by saying this specifically to my friend Howard Dean: You are a good man who has spent the last decade-plus courageously standing up to D.C. insiders even when they attacked you in these same ways. Don't let yourself be used by these same insiders when they are trashing Elizabeth Warren and other progressives.


Mike is right. One of the main themes Dean used was the danger in a false form of centrism.

False centrism and the rush to "bipartisanship". They are failing our party.

Here are Dean's words from his book You Have the Power 2004.

Dean echoed other progressive leaders who opened the conference Monday, expressing dismay, even anger, at the White House and Congress, saying they have been too timid and compromising on issues such as health care, the economy, climate change and banking reform.

Dean said the progressive base is critical to Democrats' electoral successes this fall and beyond. "If Washington understands that they can't do things that demoralize their base," Dean said, "then we'll have a permanent (Democratic) majority."

...We have to reconnect to the base.

..."In recent years the Democrats, in our pursuit of big dollars, have neglected the people we're there to serve. We let our connection to our base atrophy and have forgotten, as they say in politics, who brought us to the dance. In service to a falsely named "centrism," we've sidestepped every major request from labor unions, especially on including worker protections in our free-trade agreements.


Mike's last paragraph in his article said we needed to have a debate in politics. I say we are having that debate now. Loudly.
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Kudos to Mike Lux. "The D.C. Centrists' Straw Men" His plea to Howard Dean. (Original Post) madfloridian Oct 2015 OP
Sidebar. . . SleeplessinSoCal Oct 2015 #1
A good chance, actually. From all I've heard Ken Burch Oct 2015 #4
. merrily Oct 2015 #12
About Peter Welch... madfloridian Oct 2015 #15
Great point, madfloridian! Tentacles are everywhere. nt merrily Oct 2015 #17
As I recall rpannier Oct 2015 #2
With both feet....he is firmly on the "reformers" bandwagon. madfloridian Oct 2015 #18
For the most part, Howard Dean IS centrist. merrily Oct 2015 #3
Interesting article from 2003... madfloridian Oct 2015 #6
Thanks, madfloridian. Coming from you, that is very flattering. merrily Oct 2015 #7
Great post merrily, thank you. I supported Dean his last go round. dae Oct 2015 #10
Thank you so much. When I did my "Howard Dean: Before the Scream" post, I was surprised to learn merrily Oct 2015 #11
Kicked and recommended a whole bunch! Enthusiast Oct 2015 #5
Dean has apparently sold his soul. NorthCarolina Oct 2015 #8
Dean has always been a slightly left centrist, so I wouldn't worry about his soul emulatorloo Oct 2015 #13
Well.. NorthCarolina Oct 2015 #14
HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!! WillyT Oct 2015 #9
Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Oct 2015 #16
I feel very strongly about what party power brokers did to keep progressives out of races.. madfloridian Oct 2015 #19
K&R Paka Oct 2015 #20
 

Ken Burch

(50,254 posts)
4. A good chance, actually. From all I've heard
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 05:53 AM
Oct 2015

Progressives in Vermont never saw Dean as an ally. And vice versa.

merrily

(45,251 posts)
12. .
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 10:30 AM
Oct 2015
While Dean and Sanders have often been compared, and share much in common, the two have never had a particularly warm relationship, according to people who know them both in Vermont. Sanders served as Vermont’s only representative in Congress at the same time Dean served as the state’s governor, but Dean was more moderate as a governor than as a presidential candidate and the two had different politics, personal styles and constituencies.

In his 1997 book “Outside in the House,” Sanders called Dean “a moderate-to-conservative Democrat,” which might as well be a four letter word for Sanders. When Sanders ran for reelection to Congress as a independent in 1996, most of the Democratic Party, including President Bill Clinton, tacitly supported Sanders over his Democratic challenger, Jack Long. “To the best of my knowledge, Governor Dean is the only major Democrat to come out for [Long],” Sanders noted at the time.

......

But Dean’s support for Clinton has separated him from many of his former supporters, who have lined up behind Sanders and previously tried to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 presidential race. In fact, Dean ended up at odds with his own brother, who runs the group that spun off of Dean’s presidential campaign, when that group worked to draft Warren.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/howard-dean-campaign-hillary-clinton

Interesting not only for the assessment of Dean, but about Democrats, including Clinton, supporting Sanders over a Democratic candidate in 1996, too.


madfloridian

(88,117 posts)
15. About Peter Welch...
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 02:32 PM
Oct 2015

From your link:

Even politicians who know Sanders best, like Dean and current Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, have sided with Clinton. Vermont Rep. Peter Welch has yet to endorse and would be a plum prize for either candidate.


Welch might have a hard decision, as DFA supported him strongly.

https://www.democracyforamerica.com/campaigns/1889-peter-welch-for-congress

madfloridian

(88,117 posts)
18. With both feet....he is firmly on the "reformers" bandwagon.
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 05:08 PM
Oct 2015

He has used Twitter to support their policies that hurt teachers, parents, and students. He blocked me and many others over it.

merrily

(45,251 posts)
3. For the most part, Howard Dean IS centrist.
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 05:18 AM
Oct 2015

On medical care, he is not. Otherwise, he is a sensible woodchuck, including being liberal on culture war issues. You know, the sensible woodchucks who say, I'm so liberal, I'm actually Marxist, but we have to be realistic and pragmatic about this," then eventually devolves to "Supreme Court."

Which, translated from centrist to English means, "Third Way, all the way, all day, every day."

He may have fooled liberals in 2003, but that was neither the first time nor the last time that a Presidential candidate snookered liberals.


Exhibit One

“Our program cannot be soak the rich — that's a mistake and alienates middle class people. But on substance, the Warren wing is correct,” said Dean.

“The rhetoric about wealth creation needs to be scaled back because Americans like wealth creation,” he added. “The level playing field argument wins it for us. The reason you do not want to talk about ‘tax the rich’ is because when middle class people hear it, they hear ‘they're going to raise our taxes.’ Democrats can't do that.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/234224-centrist-dems-ready-strike-against-warren-wing/

Um, no, Governor Dean, when the vanishing middle class and the poor hear "At long, long last, let's make the rich pay their fair share," they hear "At last, fairness!"

Exhibit Two

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12779709 (Howard Dean: Before the scream.)

Exhibit Three.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2004/Howard_Dean_Budget_+_Economy.htm

Exhibit Four


Dean, a medical doctor by profession, was serving in the anonymous post of Vermont's lieutenant governor when the popular Republican governor, Richard Snelling, died of a heart attack in 1991. Dean's 11-plus years as governor are probably best remembered by the passage of a civil unions law in 2000, which gave same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples. A fiscal conservative, he also pushed through spending cuts and a tough welfare bill. Rather than seek re-election in 2002 to a sixth full term (Vermont governors have two-year terms), he retired to focus on his presidential bid.


http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/democrats2004/dean.html


madfloridian

(88,117 posts)
6. Interesting article from 2003...
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 09:00 AM
Oct 2015
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2003-08-10/whos-the-real-howard-dean

We supported him though we knew this even back then. We felt he was outspoken enough on the war and not afraid to criticize Bush....we thought he could beat Bush when others would not fight back as hard. I still think he might have won then.

He got us wins in the House, the Senate, and the White House as chair. Then he went back to his centrist ways...

Nice links, Merrily.

dae

(3,396 posts)
10. Great post merrily, thank you. I supported Dean his last go round.
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 10:16 AM
Oct 2015

I knew he endorsed HRC early on. While I was less than pleased (still hoping for Warren then) I still respected him but this "don't soak the rich" garbage gets my dander up. Sounds to much like the old GOP line on raising taxes on the rich was class warfare.
In case no one has noticed we've been getting our collective "rears" kicked in this undeclared war!

merrily

(45,251 posts)
11. Thank you so much. When I did my "Howard Dean: Before the Scream" post, I was surprised to learn
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 10:24 AM
Oct 2015

how rich his family was. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just had been unaware of it.

 

NorthCarolina

(11,197 posts)
8. Dean has apparently sold his soul.
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 09:38 AM
Oct 2015

Perhaps he grew tired of being on the outside and wanted to find his way back into the inner circle.

 

NorthCarolina

(11,197 posts)
14. Well..
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 01:29 PM
Oct 2015

I'm not really worried about his soul anyway. However, in retrospect it seems likely he was simply adopting the faux populist persona for campaign purposes much as Obama himself did.

madfloridian

(88,117 posts)
19. I feel very strongly about what party power brokers did to keep progressives out of races..
Fri Oct 2, 2015, 06:37 PM
Oct 2015

through the years.

I guess that is why I hate to see Dean taking on a role as power broker now.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024588159

It's stunning to look back at the instances I KNOW about in which progressives were fought by insider Dems.

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