Angry Dean fills out his “Enemies” list

The papers and the Net are full of stories today about how Howard Dean has channeled anger into a potent political force. However, his scorched-earth campaign seems to be pulling in the disaffected Left while alienating moderate Democrats. His attacks on “Washington Democrats” and Bill Clinton are not endearing him to the rank-and-file. Here’s a brief roundup:

“The Great Surrender” by David Brooks – “But in the Democratic race, the Dean campaign has all the loathing and the passion.”
“Changing the Tone in Washington” by Brendan Miniter – “Mr. Dean offers anger, not mature solutions.”
“Jihoward: Howard Dean, Suicide Bomber” by William Saletan – “Dean’s jihad is even crazier than Gore’s. It’s almost completely undisciplined.”

And my favorite: “Dean’s campaign depends on enemies” by Thomas Oliphant – “What is so fascinating, however, is that this need for enemies – for a domestic equivalent of people playing footsy with Bush on Iraq – overrode mature judgment. Dean’s words make sense only as an attack.”

Dean’s enemy list grows longer by the day: first it was the Bush administration, followed by “Washington Democrats”, and now Bill Clinton. Why all the anger? My theory is that an emasculated Democratic Party is looking for a fighter, a white knight, a hero and Howard Dean fits the bill by appealing to the worst instincts in people: hate and fear. Eric Hoffer wrote about the unifying effect of hatred in his great manifesto “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements”:

"Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents… Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without a belief in a devil."

A couple of readers have E-mailed to warn me to avoid overconfidence about Dubya’s re-election. My feeling is that (assuming Dean is the nominee) Dean’s podium-pounding will translate very poorly into the general election. As Saletan noted (link above) Al Gore’s divisive “People versus the Powerful” call for class warfare was a “demonstrable failure.” There’s no reason to believe that Dean’s negativism will help him beyond the primaries, especially in the face of an improving economy and foreign policy successes. If Howard Dean is the Democrats’ product, I doubt there will be many buyers in 2004.