Soccer Dad

Giving dean his due

I'm not happy about it, but as he recently announced that he would not seek a second term as chairman of the DNC, I think he really deserves his due. He took over the DNC after the 2004 election. Not only did many of us think that he was too liberal and that he'd move the Democratic party too far to the left to be viable, he was also viewed as a veritable gaffe machine.

Or as Instapundit put it:

Howard Dean is pretty much a one-man ScrappleFace full-employment guarantee.

I'm not making fun of Instapundit, he reflected the thinking of a lot of us.

We were right about the first. He was too liberal and he did more the Democratic party to the left. He also oversaw the takeover of both houses of Congress and, now, the presidency. Gaffes or no, Dean's tenure as DNC chair has to be viewed as successful.

Republicans ought to analyze Dean's role in the Democratic comeback and identify someone who has the temperament and strategic vision that will allow him (or her) to do the same.

Right now it appears that the race is between Newt Gingrich and Michael Steele. I like Steele. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland for one term and two years ago, unfortunately, he lost in his bid to succeed Paul Sarbanes as senator. That's a problem. True he was running in Maryland, but he hasn't yet won statewide office on his own, how can he be expected to provide the GOP a path back to power? Steele might be a symbol of the new Republican constituency, but I'm not sure that he's ready to lead the party back to power. So while he may be old news, I think that Gingrich is the better choice.