What a year it’s been. I first contacted the Dean campaign in August, 2002 (shortly after writing this post). I swapped e-mails periodically (I still have the e-mail correspondence from September 1 when I was telling them they needed a blog!), and then finally started thinking that there was more to his candidacy than the asterisk in the polls indicated .
One year ago today, I asked —
What other Democrats (a) are confident of their own image, (b) think quickly on their feet, (c) have the support of the press, and (d) can articulate a message sufficiently different from that of the Bush administration?
When I made the decision to get involved, I had no idea I’d be involved. My transition from the sidelines to the playing field mirrors that of literally thousands of others around the country; when Dean says the campaign’s about us, not him, he means it and we know it.
I’ll tell you this: when I wrote those words last year, I had no idea that in less than twelve months, I’d:
- Meet him,
- Spend a weekend at his campaign’s headquarters,
- Be quoted in numerous national publications regarding my involvement (including this week’s Newsweek), and
- Develop friendships with neighbors, colleagues, and people I’ve never met that will unquestionably continue for decades.
To those who disagree with my politics, I encourage you to get as involved in the Bush campaign, or with the Greens, or whomever most closely represents your view of the world. But whatever you do, stand up and fight. The most patriotic thing we can do (despite what John Ashcroft might have us believe) is speak up and fight like hell to shape the country in our image.
We get the government we deserve. Let’s earn it.
Run, Howard, Run.
5 responses to “One year ago today: Run, Howard, Run”
One year ago today…… I wrote on my tech blog that I thought Howard Dean really was the party’s best shot at winning the White House in 2004. Back then, that was enough to call my sanity into question. Today, I’m one voice…
“To those who disagree with my politics, I encourage you to get as involved in the Bush campaign, or with the Greens, or whomever most closely represents your view of the world. But whatever you do, stand up and fight. The most patriotic thing we can do (despite what John Ashcroft might have us believe) is speak up and fight like hell to shape the country in our image.”This is why even tho you are a Dean supporter you are still basically the man Rick.
So I'm a Dean supporter, but I have the same comment essentially as Henry.Participation is the new apathy. It's a movement. People want to be involved; they want power to be more distributed. Decentralized but connected; networked, human, truthful.It's dawning on a lot of people that the people in charge don't necessarily share our experience in any meaningful way, and what's more many of them don't even care about us — let alone their fellow human beings around the world. It's dawning on us that it's within the realm of possiblity that this can change if we turn off the tube and give it a few hours a week. It's dawning on us that this is even fun, that it's stimulating and empowering and makes us feel better about the future.So yeah, this is bigger than a presidential candidacy. Dean's spearheading it, but the ripples go everywhere. Call me out for getting ahead of myself if you want, but I believe January 1st 2005 is the beginning, not the end.
Hello Rick,We were pleased to see your name in Newsweek! We knew it since you mentioned our site once. Here's something that you might find encouraging:The recently updated results of the SelectSmart.com presidential candidate selector. It show how often a given candidate appears as a visitor's best match–http://www.selectsmart.com/PRESIDENT/who.phpDean's positions are the most popular with our visitors. This page lets you study at the demographics by gender, age and/or location–http://www.selectsmart.com/PRESIDENT/who.php?restrict=y This is NOT poll or a scientific cross section, all the participants are self-selected. They tend often to be Democrats looking for a candidate to support, so the results are skewed to the left. But you can see some interesting trends and maybe were Dean should concentrate.
Well done on the Newsweek quote! Just saw it by chance. Still not sure on this Dean guy (:-)) but at least I know an insider if he goes all the way.Trying to keep an open mind.Greg