On Tuesday, Jan. 7, I had the pleasure of meeting Howard Dean. I was very excited and immediately emailed my family about what I considered a momentous occasion. With an exuberance that matched even my own, my sister wrote back immediately, "That's great! Who the hell is Howard Dean?" Good question.
Howard Dean is a former governor of Vermont, who retired from the post this January after serving for 11 years, making him the second longest serving governor in Vermont history. He is probably the most beloved straight politician in the gay and lesbian community -- a distinction he gained when he signed into law a bill permitting same-sex couples to obtain civil unions. The unprecedented move made Dean enormously popular with social liberals while angering the Christian Right. He's also a doctor and a former family physician.
There's one other interesting thing about Howard Dean: he actually thinks he can become President of the United States! Howard Dean, a former governor of a state few people outside of New England can locate on a map, thinks he can defeat better-funded Democrats for the nomination and then beat George W. Bush and his 61 percent approval rating. Of course, that's exactly what the pundits said about Bill Clinton when he announced his candidacy 11 years ago.
Indeed, if Vermont annexed New Hampshire and Alaska it would still have fewer residents than Arkansas. And right now, according to a recent Zogby poll, Dean stands at two percent nationally among Democrats, placing him behind Al Sharpton. Really, what is Howard Dean thinking? He can't be President! And that's a shame.
My first impression of Dean was that he is shorter than I am, which is not a great trait for a presidential candidate. From there, however, it got better. Noting that he is the only candidate who didn't support the congressional resolution authorizing Bush to use force in Iraq, Dean quoted Harry Truman as saying, "when a Republican runs against a Republican, the Republican always wins." Bill Clinton, are you listening?
His next topic was health care. Dean helped secure guaranteed health coverage for almost every Vermonter under 18 years old. As President, Dean would require states to guarantee coverage for every American under 23, while the federal government would assume responsibility for those over 65. Dean's website points out that over 92 percent of Vermonters have health insurance. Dean has credibility on this issue; he's a doctor, and unlike Bill Frist, his family doesn't own a giant HMO.
Never predictable, Dean takes an interesting stance on gun control. Arguing that gun control is a different issue in a state like Vermont than in a state like New York, he says that for the most part gun laws should be left up to the states themselves. Dean also noted that if Al Gore had taken such a stance, he would have won West Virginia, Arkansas and maybe even Tennessee.
Foreign policy might just be his undoing. Although he had some very intelligent things to say, including the incredible proposition that human rights should have something to do with our foreign policy (President Bush, are you paying attention?), topics such as war and peace seem just a bit out of his league. Fair? No. But if the Democrats are going to beat Karl Rove in 2004, they need someone who will make the American people feel safe. In these Orwellian times, a President hell-bent on war seems better than somebody with no diplomatic experience.
Surprisingly, one of my friends back in California had actually heard of Governor Dean. "I know who that is," he said. "He's the guy who's pro-gun and pro-gay. He's going to win the homosexual gun-nut vote." Gay gun-nuts aren't much of a constituency, but when you're running for president from a tiny state with no money and no recognition, you have to take what you can get.
