Why Am I For Howard Dean
Paramendra Bhagat
November 5, 2003

I feel the need to explain because, as a permanent resident, I am not even a voter, just a news junkie on the side, but then American politics is quite a spectator sport: it is almost as dramatic and colorful as the Indian scene.

So why am I for Howard Dean? I was hoping Hillary would run. Then I was hoping Gore would run and pick Hillary as his running mate. But then this is a sexist country where Hillary does not feel comfortable running, and a racist, as in not race-neutral, country, where Colin Powell will not run. And the Capitol Hill Democrats who were jumping into the fray � Lieberman, yawn, yawn � one after the other like there was no tomorrow were nothing exciting: just so much more known-quantity lethargy was setting in. It looked like Bush would win re-election by default. And, did I mention, I did not know Dean. I was hearing about him only indirectly, someone �too liberal� to go anywhere, as the DNC, Lieberman, Karl Rove, and others were describing. The only thing I remember about Dean from the early months is even the Bush Strategist-In-Chief Rove was rooting for him: �C�mon, everybody. Let�s go. Howard Dean.� Supposedly, Dean would be the easiest Democrat to beat.

And, then, boom, he appeared. He arrived on the scene with a bang. And that is when I started reading up on him. The more I read, the more excited I got. What is the DNC talking about, I remember thinking, this is no �tax and spend liberal,� as the allegation goes.

I have been hooked ever since. The feeling has only gone deeper. To the point that I am now a Moderator on Immigration issues at the Dean Issues Forum.

So why am I for Howard Dean?

• He is a political rock star: It is a gut feeling. He is sexy, he is exciting. He is refreshing. He is smart, and forthcoming. He is cheerful. He is direct. He is straightforward to the point he feels unconventional.
• He is right and strong: just like Bush is wrong and strong. Dean is a heavyweight. He can take on Bush. He is no Dukakis. He is the real thing. He is totally winnable. My support is not based only on his stance on the issues. If I did not think he could win, I would not be wasting my time on him. Because, ultimately, you have to face reality. Dean is no McCain. He is no flavor of the week.
• Volunteering for Dean is not about becoming part of a machine where a small clique calls the shots, it is about being yourself and participating in ways that could not have been possible before the Internet. Dean�s campaign staff is not leading the way. The volunteers are. It is less a Dean Campaign, and more a Dean Phenomenon. I am less for Dean, and more for the people who are for Dean. I am just so glad to be part of the most amazing grass roots campaign ever.
• From starting out as a mere footnote, he has become the mainstream against whom not his Democratic rivals, but a sitting President has started to be compared. All of a sudden, Bush looks beatable: The Doctor Is In.
• His track record as Governor shows he is politically much more skillful than his too-liberal-to-win image would have you believe. Just because you are capable of energizing voters earlier in the campaign cycle than anyone ever before did in recent memory does not make you �too liberal to win,� it makes you a leader.
• Bush�s marriage to the whole tax cuts idea as a cure for all economic and social ills is a stopped clock: it always gives you the exact same time. Bush squandered the longest lasting period of prosperity in history. His idea is to give massive tax cuts to the super rich, who turn around and give massive campaign contributions to him. You scratch my back, I will scratch yours. Bush has been fiscally irresponsible. But my primary grudge is on social issues. Bush would like to take you back in time. His campaign appeals to the prejudices of the wrong elements in this country, be it on the issues of women�s rights, gay rights, or ethnic minority rights. He represents the Aschcrofts and Limbaughs of the world.
• Dean is no unilateral disarmament kind of dove. Look at the details of his stance on Iraq. He is no weakling. It is just that his stance has gained validity in the fiasco after the war was declared over. In a global world, multilateralism is the way to go. Shooting from the hip, loner cowboy style, takes you only so far. You might win a quick air war, but winning the peace on the ground proves much tougher. Body bags keep rolling in.
• Too many Democrats for too long have been apologizing for who they are, and what they are. Dean is different, and he is not fiscally irresponsible. Actually, of all the Democrats in the race, he is the one most vocal about a balanced budget.
• Dean�s strength is that he can marry social justice to fiscal health. One is not at the expense of the other, much as the conservatives will have you believe.
• In Dean finally there is an American politician who appears to want to tackle health care head on without inviting the socialist label. His approach rests more on pragmatism, less on ideology.
• He has been summoning campaign crowds India style. He is online, and he is offline. It�s a high tech, high touch campaign rolling on.
• His stance on �Homeland Security� is much more elaborate, much more specific, and much more �homeland� than that of Bush whose stances get captured only in vague, broad phrases. And you end up instead with Ashcroft and the Patriot Act, one toxic combination.

To be part of the Dean campaign is like attending the county fair: it is so much fun. There is the feeling of being able to shape things, true, but more importantly, there is this excitement: a sense of community is being built.