Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Barely more than a month ago,Howard Dean was accepted as the Democratic nominee for president inall but name. Wednesday, he left the race without winning so muchas a single state.
There is no joy in Montpelier. The mighty Dean has struckout.
Deaniacs all over the world are asking, "How did this happen?"Indeed, Dean's implosion is unprecedented. No other Americanpolitician has risen so high and fallen so low in a shorter periodof time.
Some will attribute Dean's fall to his now infamous "I Have aScream" speech in Iowa. This surely accounted for a good deal ofthe public's impression of Dr. Dean as an angry, unstable madman,but let us not forget that the reason Dean gave that speech was onaccount of his weak showing in Iowa, a state he was presumed towin. Dean's decline started before he yelled a single"Yaaarrrgh!"
So how did he fall? Newsweek's Evan Thomas placed the blame onthe media, telling Dean, "The press created you and the pressdestroyed you."
Like a typical member of the press, Thomas gives his professiontoo much credit. The press didn't "create" Howard Dean. Dean, alongwith his brilliant campaign manager Joe Trippi, started agrassroots campaign on the Internet that lit a fire under hardcoreliberals that eventually became too big for the mainstream media toignore.
Nor did the press "destroy" Dean. He did plenty of that on hisown. At least a month before his maniacal speech in Iowa, Deanstarted accumulating a nice collection of incredibly dumbstatements.
Need I remind you of Dean's confident assertion that he would bethe president for guys with Confederate flags on their pick-uptrucks? Or perhaps the time Dean insinuated President Bush waspre-warned of 9/11 by Saudi Arabia because it was an "interestingtheory?"
Then there was the governor's charge that the capture of Saddamdidn't make America any safer. He told Chris Matthews of Hardballthat the way to deal with North Korea was to work with the "SovietUnion." Oh yeah, and he also said we shouldn't prejudge Osama binLaden's guilt for 9/11. How could this guy lose?
From the start, Dean set himself up as the anti-establishmentcandidate. It was a good plan, and it got him a long way. However,one can't exactly be anti-establishment if one is constantlyseeking the endorsements and approval of ... the establishment.
So he alienated the establishment by being anti-establishment,then alienated his base by trying to court the establishment. Thatmuch seems to be established. Of course, winning the endorsement ofAl Gore never helped anyone.
Finally, Dean said he hoped to make the whole country like hishome state of Vermont. Voters in 17 states thus far appear to liketheir own states just fine.
I don't feel particularly sorry for Dean, but I do have empathyfor his supporters.
Many were young and full of idealist fervor. They poured theirhearts into Dean's campaign and were left with the bittersweetreality of politics. I didn't agree with them, but at least theybelieved in something.
So after all that excitement and build-up, Howard Dean willsimply pack his bags and go home to Vermont. So long, Howard. Wehardly knew ye.
