Howard Dean; A Man of the Black People

The hits keep on coming from Howard “where were all the minorities during my primary run” Dean. Another week, another inane set of comments. It is hard to not think that Howard Dean has not become a caricature of himself. Where does SNL start and the real Dean begin? Fresh off his weekend stint on Meet the Press comes Howard Dean; I understand the black people because I was governor of Vermont.

Black voters are upset with the Democratic Party for coming around just weeks before elections seeking their votes, party chairman Howard Dean said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. Taking black voters for granted is a long-standing problem for the party that dates to the 1960s, said Dean, who promised changes in strategy even as he cited diversity at the top of the Democratic National Committee.

“African-Americans are annoyed with the Democratic Party because we ask them for their votes four weeks before the election instead of being in the community now and that’s a mistake I’m trying to fix,” he said.

Some how the man who was Governor of a state with 0.5% blacks has found the formula for the Democratic party to not take the black vote for granted? This coming from the man who had no blacks in his cabinet while being the Governor of Vermont.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton forced Dean to acknowledge that no blacks or Hispanics served in his cabinet during 12 years as governor.

“While I respect the fact you brought race into this campaign, you ought to talk freely and openly about whether you went out of the box to try to do something about race in your home state and have experience with working with blacks and browns at peer level, not as just friends you might have had in college,” Sharpton said.

“No, we did not,” conceded Dean, whose state has a population that is nearly 98 percent white.

What a short memory you have Dr. Dean. I remember the last time you decided to lecture people on race you got put in your place rather handily.

”If you want to lecture people on race, you ought to have the background and track record to do that,” Al Sharpton snapped at the Democratic presidential front-runner in an emotionally charged exchange in the final debate before next week’s kickoff Iowa caucuses.

Dean, an expert on minority relations is just another amusing antidotes in a long line of comic relief provided by the dear Doctor. I guess Dr Dean has also forgot about his comments regarding the Confederate flag when he said, “I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.”

Lieberman admonished Dean to watch his words. “Governor Dean ought to be more careful about what he says,” he said. “It is irresponsible and reckless to loosely talk about one of the most divisive, hurtful symbols in American history.”

What is most amazing is that Dean would be annoyed by the Democratic Party’s outreach to blacks. When has Howard Dean ever had to reach out to any in his past political races? I am sure that the 0.5% black population in Vermont was not a sought after voting block. Then when he ran on a national level during the Democratic Primaries he managed to constantly put his foot in his mouth and irritate black voters. I guess Dean also forgot this speech from Darmouth University after he claimed he wanted to be the candidate of guys with the Confederate flag. So is Howard Dean, the first black DNC Chairman, ala Bill Clinton (the first black President) going to address the NAACP and spell out his plan that includes blacks within the Democratic party conscience 24-7-365? Howard Dean has about as much business speaking on this topic as John Kerry did calling himself a man of the common people. What will next week bring from Howard Dean? We can’t wait. Where does my thank you card get mailed again to the Democratic Party for electing this man DNC Party Chair again?