TBD

Jeffrey Dubner at TAPPED notes in his post called “HOWARD THE GIP” the fact that many in the blogosphere are making comparisons between Howard Dean and Ronald Reagan.

I don’t really want to open up this can of worms, but I just have to say it:

The difference between Ronald Reagan and Howard Dean is that Ronald Reagan won two straight national elections in landslides that featured huge crossover numbers of Democrats. Howard Dean failed to get even 20% of the Democratic vote in the primaries. He may be similar to the Ronald Reagan of 1972, but he’s a long, long way from the Ronald Reagan of 1980.

Ronald Reagan articulated for the base of his party a very distinct ideological form of conservative Republicanism. His entire worldview was shaped by anti-communism and low taxes and laisse faire capitalism, period. It was, rhetorically speaking, a repudiation of the New Deal and it was a big, big idea that animated many Americans after the hangover of the 60’s. (Of course, he didn’t govern as he preached — and people didn’t really want him to — but the fact that he was able to keep his base fanatically loyal despite that is a testament to his political skill.)

Dean on the other hand offered no such big ideas — not that any of the other Democrats did either. He ran on the “Stop The Republicans Before They Kill Us All” platform, one which I think was very powerful in helping break the trance into which we’d all been forced after 9/11 and the patriotic police started their patrols. I don’t underestimate its significance or its importance in jumpstarting the Democratic will to fight back in this particular election.

But, if Dean is to build on the truly amazing loyalty he has engendered among his core group of Democrats, he’s going to have to articulate a bigger vision and animate Democrats on a more ideological level.

I’m personally hoping that he will take the job of DNC chaiman in the short term, even if he decides to run again. I think it would be a huge statement to the ossified party bureaucracy and would give a voice to all those who feel left out of the party apparatus presently. That job requires a fighter and that’s what Dean is all about.

But, if he is going to have the galvanizing effect on the Democrats that Ronald Reagan had on the Republicans he will have to embrace and articulate a fresh, affirmative, long term vision for the party that goes beyond what he’s talked about in the past. He has a base to build upon if he wants to do it.