Well, Dean has decided to go for DNC chair. I still have a fair bit of trepidation about this. Not because of anything to do with Dean, but because I have not an ounce of trust in the Democratic party or what passes for Democratic leadership these days.

I see three possible outcomes: 1) he loses - this could be a blow to DFA, which would be a real shame - especially if he loses due to an establishment gang-up as in the primaries (I suppose losing to Rosenberg wouldn't be as bad as that); 2) he wins, but gets tangled up in hidebound bureaucracy forever and can't get anything accomplished, diminishing himself and, again, DFA, in the process; 3) he wins and the only reason he's decided to go for it is that he knows he's got the votes and the cooperation he'll need to effect real change. I hope it's door #3.

After all, new ideas and new leaders don't come from consultants; they come from communities.

[...] The Democratic Party will not win elections or build a lasting majority solely by changing its rhetoric, nor will we win by adopting the other side's positions. We must say what we mean—and mean real change when we say it.

[...] We will never succeed by treating our nation as a collection of separate regions or separate groups. There are no red states or blues states, only American states. And we must talk to the people in all of these states as members of one community.

That word—'values'—has lately become a codeword for appeasement of the right-wing fringe. But when political calculations make us soften our opposition to bigotry, or sign on to policies that add to the burden of ordinary Americans, we have abandoned our true values.

Now see, that's the kind of political party I could imagine joining. Hopefully Dean can win and reshape the party into something the majority of Americans would be pleased to align with. I said if he ran, he'd have my full support. He does. Now, to go find out who the members of the DNC in my state are...