DEAN

I finally got around to reading Howard Dean's speech on the the future of the Democratic Party. Good speech, I like it's fighting spirit, and I pretty much agree with hs sentiments down the line. But there's just one little problem: There is no mention of either national security or terrorism. At all. I saw a mention of Harry S. Truman, thought he might be leading into something...but no. The speech could have been written and delivered in 1999 for all the awareness of current global realities it shows.

I think Dean would probably make a good DNC chair, but the party cannot afford someone who doesn't apprehend the salience of those issues right now. I don't have to agree with him on specific policies regarding those issues, but I need to know that he understands that they do need to be brought front and center and not ceded to Republicans if the Democratic Party wants to be competitive.

Maybe in the next speech, Howard?

Come on, throw me a line here. A whole paragraph even.