Burnt Orange Report

How 'bout some flying monkeys?

By Jim Dallas

Vince is certainly correct that Howard Dean's DNC Plan is exciting because it addresses a number of widely-recognized genuine institutional problems we've got.

And naturally, if I were a Republican, I'd share Thomas Lindaman's view:

Conservatives and Republicans have been licking their chops at the prospect of a Dean chairmanship, but I would urge a bit of caution here. Howard Dean has the potential to be the Democrats' version of Newt Gingrich, and if we overlook the potential impact he will have on the Democrats as a whole, we could see a Democrat Revolution in the near future, possibly as soon as 2006.

Granted, I've taken more than a few shots at Dean in my columns, but behind the scenes I've grown to respect him. He is not a typical modern Democrat by any stretch of the imagination. Instead of focusing on short term personal political goals, he sees a bright future for his party if Democrats are willing to follow him.

And personally, I think he has the ability to do it.

Soon? All in good time, my pretties.

But while we're rebuilding our state parties and modernizing our technology, why don't we take the next logical step - training a swarm of flying monkeys? Just think about how they'd improve our operations - reduced costs for lit drops, and the ability to literally, umm, knock and drag our voters to the polls!

At this point you are wondering... no doubt... did Jimbo have a little too much fun this weekend? What's the point? Is there a point?

In rapid order, no, yes, and yes. The point is this: The Dean plan focuses heavily on infrastructure and institutional reform. But it seems to ignore that other key issue - persuasion. And while I certainly don't intend to join the Chicken Little Wing of the Democratic Party, I'll note that Dean's ascendency probably isn't turning on the un-evangelized.

Having the best marketing infrastructure in the world isn't going to help us one iota if there's not a market for what we're marketing.

This is, I think, my singular critique of the plan so far, but it's important. Our sales pitch needs work. As in, it needs to be employed.

By "work," I don't mean turning tail and pretending that, by golly, if we just have enough Sista Souljah moments the people will trust us again! (and boy howdy, do I absolutely loathe re-running the same tired plays out of the Clinton playbook) but rather, that we need to work on fundamental things like the elevator pitch and... by golly... actually going out and using selling door-to-door.

Howard Dean, I think, is going to do a good job as chair. But at some point we're going to have to start addressing that credibility gap (yes! It's frustrating to admit that millions of Americans still trust those assclowns in the White House!) that's putting a crimp in our persuasive ability. I'm not sure handing over message and policy to the Congressional wing of the party was the best decision... bless their hearts, despite some promising developments in the last few months... I'm still not convinced our Congressional leaders could fight their way out of a wet paper sack.