The New York Times reports that the new leadership of the Democratic Party wants to oust Howard Dean. Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel are taking all the credit for the Democratic victory, and James Carville wants to replace Dean with Harold Ford. Howard Dean wanted to build a national party for the Democrats. He wanted to make it possible for somebody driving a pickup with a confederate flag and rifle rack on the back to vote Democratic. Schumer and company want it to be the party of big city Jews and blacks, with a few gays and other assorted minorities thrown in.
I like the Howard Dean vision. When the Republicans went off the deep end, it meant there was somewhere else to go. In addition, during the last presidential primaries, Howard Dean boldly made the Iraq war an issue, while other Democrats dithered. He staked out the issue that won the 2006 election, but don't expect Schumer and Emanuel to admit that.
Ironically, the two Democratic leaders in the Congress are Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, who look more like the old America than Schumer, Emanuel and Ford. San Francisco is not New York or Chicago; Nevada definitely is not, although both San Francisco and Las Vegas are in the running to be "Sin City, USA." Pelosi and Reid had better watch their backs.
