Web Letters: The Prophet

I worked as a volunteer for Howard Dean in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. As an advance event volunteer during his presidential primary, I met Dean on several occasions and got to know him quite well. My regular profession in healthcare has me interacting with physicians daily and learning about how they think. Dean is a physician. To me, as a scientist, the intellect and rigor that physicians use in their practices is the pinnacle of human endeavor and intellect. Dean and other physicians, especially in the Northeast Boston area exhibit this intellect, and Dr. Jerome Groopman of Harvard defines it in his book How Doctors Think.

Dean's approach was not incremental, it was visionary. The rank and file in the trenches I worked with in the Democratic party laughed and scoffed at Dean's 50-state strategy... until they saw it working. Then they shut their mouths and started to pay attention. As someone down at the bottom of the party in many state Democratic parties, I can tell you first hand that this party needed to be re-built from the bottom up and Howard Dean was the only one who had the vision, intellectual rigor and courage to set the course and follow through. I will defend Dean and his 50-state strategy and remind the party of his accomplishments at every turn. I guess you can count me as a Dean loyalist and a Deaniac. Arggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... we went to all the states.

Andrew John Di Liddo Jr.

Grantsville, MD

I've enjoyed Ari Berman's articles about Howard Dean. His initial article on Dean was the first to put into print what many of us (2004 Dean supporters) believed--without Dean, Obama would not have won the Democratic party's nomination.

Today is January 6, 2009. So tell me, where in the world is Howard Dean today? Could it be Mr. Rahm harbors grudges? Or is it possible that now that he is in power, Mr. Obama does not trust the Democratic grassroots, and the operative (Clintonian) philosophy is party power, party control?

We celebrate Mr. Obama's election. At the same time, we are realists. We hope, but Howard, we've still got your back.

Terri Arnold

San Diego, CA

I was once in charge of a small county library in a small city that contracted to Los Angeles County for many of its services. In my first meeting with the board of the Friends of the Library, they expressed an interest in a larger facility. They were also the board of the Republican women's club, and were, among other things, very helpful with elections. While I was not fully aware of their dual functions, I said, Let's see what we can do about a new library. The city was in the process of creating a new civic center, and, since the county provided many services, it was a part of the building plans. A new library was not a high priority in these plans, but with a word here and there, we were able to get a higher priority.

A major problem developed with the location of the library. The county had a site by a shopping center that was all right, but the city, not unnaturally, wanted it in the civic center. The county library wouldn't budge on their site, and neither would the city. The city engineer came to see me about the problem, and I suggested going to the county supervisor, who was also in control of the county library. While I did not know how the supervisor would react, I suspected that the city's point of view would prevail.

The point I am trying to make with this little tale is that the county library took a top-down approach to the problem that would have stopped or delayed the project. You have to work with the people on the ground if you want to be successful. I knew the community and had worked with these people. I, unofficially, greased the wheels a few times to keep the project on track. The basic lesson I took away from that experience was the local people know the ground, and what they want for their community. Local Democratic leaders are better able to produce the type of candidate that can be elected from their area. There is no top-down approach to politics, when the national political leadership appear every two to four years to campaign for a candidate. People in Washington do not know the ground and are forced to rely on their "red" and "blue" nonsense. Successful politics is a bottom-up operation, and top-down politics has many unforeseen consequences.

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA

It is a breath of fresh air to read another great article about Howard Dean. He is an admired man with a progressive agenda that gets results. He understands the concept of "it takes a village" and demonstrates a strategy that worked to benefit the grandiose Democrats stuck in Washington ideas. It is time for politicians to literally read the definition of "public service."

It is true we need the charismatic leaders like Barack Obama or driven leaders like Rahm Emanuel. I prefer Howard Dean because he energizes progressives by focusing on our agenda first. Sure, the other types pick up on this way of thinking to carry them over the finish line, only to abandon us later. We are getting stronger in number and younger due to the strategy of Mr. Dean, dating back to his candidacy. We are bringing our parents with us to rally behind us for the good of our future without being stuck in their pasts.

We have consistently lost our way in red tape in Washington with ideas to stay close to the center. It is time to start looking over our left shoulder and carry the rest that keep pulling us away from a progressive agenda. Again, thank you, Howard Dean, for the vision.

Tyrone Jones

Los Angeles, CA