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Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Surprisingly linking to Krugman again...

Any of my regular readers will certainly not be surprised that I seldom agree with Paul Krugman, but I think he is more right than not in this The New York Times >column on Howard Dean:

The Republicans know the America they want, and they are not afraid to use any means to get there,' Howard Dean said in accepting the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. 'But there is something that this administration and the Republican Party are very afraid of. It is that we may actually begin fighting for what we believe.' Those words tell us what the selection of Mr. Dean means. It doesn't represent a turn to the left: Mr. Dean is squarely in the center of his party on issues like health care and national defense. Instead, Mr. Dean's political rejuvenation reflects the new ascendancy within the party of fighting moderates, the Democrats who believe that they must defend their principles aggressively against the right-wing radicals who have taken over Congress and the White House
Ignoring the silly, over the top attacks against Republicans here, he is correct about Dean being more moderate than leftist. He certainly has passion, and from what I can tell sincerity, which will be an interesting change for a party that seems to have had little of either for a while now. The fundamental problem for Dean and the Democrats (catchy name for a rockband that) is the lack of new ideas coming from that party. When conservatives were in the wilderness they took the chance to evaluate their positions, discarding some and coming up with specific plans, and more importantly, broad principles to support them. That wasn't the whole of their success, the alliance with the religious right was certainly important as well, but it was in my opinion crucial.

3 Comments:

Blogger aw said...

Not only do I think your original assessment of Dean (what, a day or two ago?) is accurate, I agree with your sentiments on the Krugman article.

The biggest thing keeping me from the Democratic party, or even labeling myself liberal/progressive, is that these words that mean forward-thinking and open-minded describe groups who are entrenched in 40-year old paradigms. It really is the Republicans, after hitting bottom, woke up and realized new ideas were needed, who represent the party of change, with the Democrats representing the status quo.

2/15/2005 06:27:00 PM  
Blogger MacBoar said...

I thought Dean was railroaded by the MSM after the infamous scream. While I may not agree with his politics, he's a lot better the many other choices.

Oh, I still despise Krugman...

2/15/2005 07:41:00 PM  
Blogger Dave Justus said...

Dean will be interesting anyway.

Even without the 'scream' he had plenty of unusual comments and gaffes during the primary season. I don't expect that to change.

I also don't expect him to sit quiety in the background.

2/16/2005 09:26:00 AM  

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