I really do have work that I have to do today, but let's face it, this is what gets my blood pumping.
First, with bad news seemingly pouring out of Iraq everyday, I think Dean may have a chance to compete on foreign policy. It will depend on his advisors and if he is able to go toe to toe with Bush on foreign policy in the fall debates. I think Dean's willingness to discuss Saudia Arabia, as Marc alluded to, is also a good first step toward making the foreign policy issue less of a give away for Bush.
(Sidebar Question: Will Bush debate anybody this year? It's not his strong suit, and he knows it. Although he performed well in 2000, he did so with very little expectation. Now, he's going to be expected to be informed, nuanced and articulate. Bush will have to prove that his four years in the White House have forged in him the gravitas that he's banking on to make him untouchable in terms of foreign policy.)
Marc, your original post today suggested that Dean was backing away from an unpopular position (in the party, at least) when he attempted to apologize and clarify his confederate flag comment. That, however, does not seem to me to be the case. Dean's campaign seems bent, wisely I think, on shifting focus away from cultural values and on to the economy. I think Dean wants poor people to vote for him because he offers a progressive economic agenda (including health care reform, job creation and education reform), despite many voters misgivings about the Democratic party's fairly liberal stance on social issues. The inherent flaw with his wording, however, was the choice of a symbol so divisive that it thrust cultural values into the forefront of the discussion, exactly where Dean didn't want them to be. I think his comment was a political gaffe, but I don't think it does any damage to his overall policy initiatives or strategy.
True, Dean is quite a bit different from the majority of southern voters, but I don't think he needs to bend his social views to their liking. Like Clinton did in 1992, Dean must prevent his social values from becoming an obstacle in the minds of those poor, white southern voters who might vote for him otherwise. Clinton did not, nor did he pretend to, share a lot of cultural values with most southern, white voters. What he did do is downplay his differences and exaggerate his similarities. And this must be the Dean strategy. Dean has a good start due to his glowing NRA record and refusal to rescind his comment that rural states do not need the same gun-control laws as urban states do, a comment many Democrats found obliquely racist.
Clinton did not win the South on cultural issues. What he did do, and what Dean must do, is refuse to lose the South on cultural issues.
Tony
