Howard Dean’s accomplishments versus James Carville’s failures

By Mary MacElveen

November 15, 2006

Newsmax.com reports that James Carville the political has been stated that Democrats should fire Howard Dean as the chair of the Democratic National Committee.  In the most laughable statement he likens Howard Dean to that of Donald Rumseld when he said, "I think he should be held accountable. I would describe his leadership as Rumsfeldian in its competence.”

Unlike Rumsfeld, Dean’s mission to retake the House was ‘Mission Accomplished’ in which Democrats took back more than the fifteen seats needed to become the majority in that house.  In fact, they took back thirty and Carville now complains that fifty should have been won.  If there were a message I could send to Carville, it would be, “We won the House, stupid!”

In Howard Dean’s short tenure as the chair of the DNC he has made more of an impact since Carville won the White House for Bill Clinton and the Democrats back in 1992.  Then again, I would say that victory was won by both Clinton and Gore and had little to do with Carville. 

It was then in 1994 that the House was lost to the Republicans with their ‘Contract with America’ campaign.  It has been that long since Democrats controlled the House.  James Carville had twelve years in order to lead this party from a minor party to a majority party and he failed at doing so.

When Carville complained that he tried to meet with Dean in the last days prior to this election in which Dean declined, I am most assured that Dean had more important priorities to attend to then listen to a man that had not delivered any significant victories for the party.  He stated that he was upset that in the days leading up to the Democratic victory, he would have advised Dean to spend extra money.  Dean is a fiscal conservative and his record as the governor of Vermont proves it.  Would his advice if taken bankrupt the party?

On a North Dakota news site, they ran this story: Dean deserves much credit. I want to remind all that North Dakota is as red as they come when it comes to defining how a state votes.

This is what they reported, “Election successes across the country could not have happened without the help of the Democratic National Committee’s 50 State Strategy.” I wonder if Carville is listening to North Dakota as he shoots his mouth off.

This article even states that much of the credit should be given to Chairman Howard Dean and citing the many races won country-wide.  They even had this to say of Chairman Dean, “The brainchild was his, and although he came under much fire for it, it paid off with a wave of Democratic success stories across the country.”  Are you paying attention, Carville or do you just like to hear the sound of your own voice and see your name in print?  Could it be part jealousy that Dean was able to accomplish this in such a short amount of time?

These are the races the news article gives credit to Dean in helping the Democrats win, “Democrats control the U.S. Senate. Democrats control the U.S. House. There are now 28 Democratic governors. Democrats control state legislative bodies 54 to 41. Democrats control state legislative seats 3,964 to 3,307. In North Dakota, we made significant legislative gains (more than we have since the 1980’s).”  That is the Dean record accompanied by the thousands of volunteers across this country that helped us “Take back our country”

When Carville had this to say of Harold Ford Jr. who he thought should replace Dean, “Suppose Harold Ford became chairman of the DNC? How much more money do you think we could raise? Just think of the difference it could make in one day. Now probably Harold Ford wants to stay in Tennessee. I just appointed myself his campaign manager."

According to the MemphisFlyer.com Harold Ford Jr. issued the following statement, "I have just finished a tough Senate election, and while I care about the future direction of my party, I am not interested in taking over the DNC," He then went onto say, "We are now the majority party in the House and Senate, and it is time to move beyond the politics of the campaign ..." So why is Carville continuing this campaign when clearly the man he wanted to replace Dean with says the opposite?

In speaking of moving on, the American people gave us their trust in leading this country and men like Carville just do not understand that.  This is a time for party unity, not disunity in which we put the needs of the people first and leave the vitriolic statements behind.  It is about delivering jobs, a real minimum wage, health care and so many other vital programs back to those that have been left behind with the GOP led congress.  It is about trying to end the war in Iraq so that we can bring home the fathers and mothers of American children who go to bed each night wondering if they are safe and praying they are.

The only motive I see is that Carville wants the Democratic Party to a place in time in which the Democrats suffered defeat after defeat in congress.  He has not given us one victory since 1992.  That is his record.