Opinion> Roger Simon> Howard Dean Acting Like A President

	10 Feb 2012 Mitt Romney Is Dazed and Confused You never want to let them see how much it hurts. You get hit by a pitch, you don't rub the spot. You get … Read More.
	8 Feb 2012 Newt Driven by “Personal Hatred” Some men grow in office, and others just swell. Sam Rayburn said it, and Newt Gingrich proves it. During his … Read More.
	3 Feb 2012 A Low Road Through a Weak Field The road is low, the field is weak, and the future is bleak. Just three things to consider after yet another primary. 1.… Read More.

Howard Dean Acting Like a President?

Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean has been meeting with world leaders to repair "the extraordinary damage" that the Bush administration has done to America's image and to prepare the way for a new Democratic president.

"I am trying to build relationships with other governments in preparation for a Democratic takeover," Dean told me. "I want to make clear that there is an opposition in America and that we are ready to take power and that when we do, we are going to have much better relationships with them."

In an hour-long interview at Democratic National Committee headquarters this week, Dean also revealed that he has been quietly meeting with well-known Christian evangelical leaders in order to build new bridges between them and the Democratic Party.

"We're never going to convince them on civil rights for gay people or abortion rights," Dean said. "But we certainly can focus on the things that we both care about a lot: global warming, poverty and the materiality of our culture."

And, oh yeah, Dean could run for president again.

"I have no idea," Dean replied when I asked him if he would. "I hope we are going to elect a Democratic president, and I won't have to think about it until 2016. In which case, I will be a lot older than I am now."

Dean would be 68 in 2016, which is younger than John McCain is now.

I asked Dean if he missed running.

"Oh, of course. Are you kidding? Who wouldn't miss it?" he said seriously. "I don't miss the 18-hour days, seven days in a row. But the adrenalin rushes and the tactics and all that kind of stuff, I miss that. But I like what I am doing, and I never wish I were running in this cycle."

Though Dean's presidential candidacy flamed out early in 2004, he made at least three significant contributions to the Democrats: He legitimized opposition to the Iraq war within the party leadership; he ushered in a new era of aggressive in-your-face campaigning; and he recast the party as willing to fight for Democratic ideals rather than compromising with Republicans.

And he hasn't changed his style.

When I asked him if Republicans would always be seen as tougher than Democrats when it came to national defense, he said, "It is possible to be tough without filling Walter Reed with 12,000 wounded kids and then not taking care of them."

Dean went on, "Now that we have a real problem with Iran, there's not much we can do about it because of the president's incredible foolishness in running our armed forces through the gauntlet in Iraq, which wasn't necessary."

He also said that having "the moral high ground" is part of defending the country.

"A strong national defense depends on having well-trained troops and good weapons systems, but it also depends on having the moral high ground, and this president has given up the moral high ground around the world, and that's a disaster for the country's defense," Dean said.

On the pending battle between the two parties on immigration reform, Dean said: "I think the Republicans have decided they don't want to do anything about immigration because they are scared.

The best kind of immigration reform is a much better working relationship with Mexico. We will never solve immigration problems in this country without improving the Mexican economy dramatically."

Dean is very concerned about world affairs and believes that after the November election in 2008, the president-elect should take a month off and travel the world to bolster America's image.

"During the Cold War, we certainly had people who didn't like us, but they respected us," Dean said. "Now, unfortunately, they don't like us and they don't respect us. And that needs to be fixed. And I consider one of my informal jobs to help fix it with like-minded world leaders so we do have some relationships."

Dean also said that the Bush administration's failure to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was a turning point for the country.

"It destroyed George Bush's presidency," Dean said. "Permanently. The one thing that Americans and everybody else in the world have always believed, whether you like America or not, whether you like the government or not, is that the most organized, best managers in the world are the Americans. And if anything really, really awful happens, send in the Americans. And we all saw on television around the whole world, that this just wasn't true of this president and this government. It was just ludicrous. It's still ludicrous to this day."

In his famous speech to the winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee in 2003, Dean, then a presidential candidate, upbraided the party for too much timidity and too much coziness with Republicans.

"That's why Democrats didn't win for a long time," Dean said Tuesday. "Harry Truman said if you run a Republican against a Democrat who behaves like a Republican, the real Republican wins every time."

Confrontation is not what Dean is looking for when it comes to the Christian right, however.

"I think you're going to see in the Democratic progressive community and in the evangelical community a spirit that says we don't have to compromise our beliefs, but we can work with others when we find common ground," Dean said. "We got 29 percent of the evangelical vote in the 2006 election, and that's up 10 points from 2004. Now, I don't think that necessarily means we're going to get it in 2008, but we shouldn't be afraid to try to reach evangelicals."

And what is the common ground that Democrats and evangelicals can reach?

"We both think the culture is too material and not spiritual enough," Dean said. "Our solutions and our language about those problems may be different, but the concern is the same."

I asked Dean if he agreed with some in his party who say that things look so good for the Democrats in 2008, they virtually can't lose.

"That is what I call magical thinking, and Democrats have been very guilty of it for a long time," Dean said. "I don't admire much about Republicans, but one thing I do admire is that they don't engage in magical thinking."

Dean said the Democratic Party is busy raising money and organizing in every state, and "we have a turnout operation that we think is better than the Republicans now."

"But winning is going to be hard work," Dean said. "This race is going to be won in 2007, not 2008. It is all going to be about how well you prepare."

To find out more about Roger Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.