Corporate Consulting
	Political Consulting
	About Raynard Jackson
	Recent Columns
	Raynard In The News
	Pictures
	Events
	Links
	Contact Us
	Main Page

Archive

Published: Mar. 17, 2005

Howard Dean: Just a Thorn in the Clintons’ Side
By Raynard Jackson, AOL BlackVoices columnist


Last month, the Democratic National Committee elected former Vermont governor Howard Dean as its new chairman, and his election has already caused much consternation within the Democratic Party.

The biggest losers were Bill and Hillary Clinton, because with Terry McCauliffe gone, they no longer have control over the party apparatus. Rumor has it that they fought behind the scenes to derail Dean's bid to become party chair, but they obviously failed. During his presidential campaign, Dean galvanized the liberal wing of his party and those are the same people who voted him into the DNC chairmanship.

Dean is going to be a disaster in the South. His brand of liberalism is a curse to that part of the country and as a result, the defections to the Republican Party are already beginning.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, has made it perfectly clear that Dean does not speak for them. That seems very odd; by definition, the chairman is the spokesman for the party.

Dean started controversy as soon as he became chairman last month, with his overtly racist comments about blacks. During a meeting with black Democrats in Washington, D.C., Dean joked during a speech, "You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here."

What is more amazing than Dean making that statement was the reaction of some black Democrats. "The point he was trying to make was that the Bush administration is extremely hostile and threatening to the interest of black people," according to Jesse Jackson. "He was saying that although the Republican Party has leading blacks in high positions, they are not black leaders who can deliver voters."

It's comments like that that continue to make Jackson an embarrassment to blacks. If a white Republican had made a similar statement, Jackson, Al Sharpton and mad Maxine Waters would have been up in arms. Black liberals are so in need of acceptance that they will allow someone to disrespect them to their face and then turn around and defend the person who made the disrespectful remarks. It’s no wonder that Democrats continue to disregard black voters.

Don't forget that this is the same Dean who said he wanted to be the president of those who drive pick-up trucks with gun racks and the confederate flag. Dean's problem will not be the Republican Party, but his own Democratic peers. The expectations of radical liberals in the Democratic Party are so high that Dean is doomed.

There is no way Dean will be able to bridge all the divides within his party. I predict that if the Democrats have a poor showing in the 2006 midterm elections and there will be a major move to force Dean out. And who will quietly lead the charge? You guessed it, the Clintons. Assuming she wins reelection to her Senate seat, this will be the last attempt at a power grab before she runs for president. Dean's chairmanship could jeopardize her plans and there will be an ongoing fight for control of the Democratic Party and the personal ambitions of the Clintons.
 

About the Author

Raynard Jackson is president and CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, Inc., a political consulting/government affairs firm in Washington, D.C. RJA provides strategic advice and counsel to elected officials (White House, Congress), corporations and entrepreneurs.

Published: March 17, 2005