Dean's candidacy takes wing by urging honest liberalism

Sheryl McCarthy in the Detroit News -- Bartlet is the kind of president many of us would love to have, and the similarities to Dean are striking. They're about the same age. Both are from New England. They're both smart and intellectual: Bartlet is a Nobel laureate and former college professor, while Dean is a Yale graduate and a physician. As a colleague who follows "The West Wing" and happened to catch Dean doing a television interview the other day put it, both men can refer to the classics without coming across as highfalutin.

Bartlet and Dean are both married to doctors, women more in the Hillary Rodham Clinton than Laura Bush mode. Both are mavericks who seem to have appeared out of nowhere, although they really didn't. They're also pretty liberal, understanding that the little men and women are the ones who need the government most.

The most striking thing about Bartlet and his "West Wing" crew, however, is that they are principled. Sure, they get worked up over what to do about a presidential aide who's dating a call girl. But what they agonize over most is how not to compromise their principles for the sake of politics.

As Toby, the angst-ridden director of communications, would say, "We have to remember why we're here. And if we don't use this office to do some of the things we came here for, then what's the point?"

In a profile that appeared on a web site, the words used to describe him apply equally to Bartlet: "a muscular Democrat," "pugnacious and a little prickly," "doesn't back down from a fight," "willing to play political hardball if that's what it takes to get what he wants."

Bartlet doesn't hesitate to order a military attack on a rogue country that needs to be taught a lesson, or to assassinate a dangerous tyrant who has been plotting against the United States. But he also revs up to fight a rider to a much-needed banking bill that would allow strip-mining in the wilderness.

Dean opposed the Bush administration on the Iraq war and chided the president for labeling the University of Michigan's affirmative action program a "quota" system. Even though Vermonters were sharply divided over a bill granting civil union status to homosexuals, Dean signed it into law. He also expanded Vermont's Medicaid program so every child in the state now has medical insurance. Despite being branded ultraliberal, he balanced the state budget. And he earned a good rating from the National Rifle Association, even though he supports some forms of gun control.

Like Bartlet, Dean is complicated and pragmatic but principled. And with a Republican administration filled with cowboys, zealots and religious fundamentalists lacking in empathy, Dean is appealing.

Howard Dean gets more interesting by the day.

Another convert.

The Stranger interview with Dean here.

Where do you fit on the ideological or political spectrum?

I don’t. I’m conservative about money. I really do believe in a balanced budget, but I’m appalled by the president’s incredible fiscal irresponsibility. And I’m liberal about social issues. I believe in civil rights for all members of minority [groups], including gay and lesbian people. I believe in health care for all Americans—every single other industrialized country in the world has it. We need to get out of this backwards thing that we’re in.

What about gun control?

On gun control I'm more conservative than most. I think that states should have the right to make as much gun control as they want, or as little.

Right now, is your campaign running farther to the left than your governorship?

I can’t think of one thing that I’ve talked about on the campaign trail that we didn’t do, or I didn’t believe when I was governor. It’s completely consistent with my governorship. It’s in the interests of the RNC that I’m painted as an ultra-liberal. Why would you believe anything the RNC says? This is the party that calls “Clear Skies” the bill that allows much more pollution to go into the air.