Wash Post reports on who Dean's been consulting with

[pruner]

Dean Plugs Gaps in Experience
Ex-Governor Consults Experts on National, International Issues

Tuesday, December 2, 2003; Page A04

…

In foreign policy and defense, Dean has "talked with" several Democratic Party stalwarts -- such as former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, former defense secretary William Perry and former national security adviser Anthony Lake -- over the past six months, according to his campaign. All three, however, have consulted with other Democratic candidates as well, and none has endorsed Dean. Indeed, Perry, an engineering professor at Stanford University, has endorsed Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.).

Dean's most committed foreign policy wonk is a volunteer, Danny Sebright, a former Pentagon official who is vice president at a Washington consulting firm headed by William Cohen, who was President Bill Clinton's defense secretary. Sebright -- who headed a Pentagon panel on global terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- compiled Dean's foreign policy briefing book and wrote the campaign's position papers on such topics as Israel, North Korea and nuclear proliferation.

In economics, the campaign has sought advice from such luminaries as Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz, Princeton University's Alan S. Blinder and Jeffrey D. Sachs of Columbia University's Earth Institute. Sachs said he has spoken with Dean "about a half-dozen times" on trade, environmental policy and macroeconomic issues. Although he has not endorsed Dean and consults with other candidates, he said he thinks Dean "has the right instincts" on fiscal and foreign policy. "I've been very impressed with him as a listener," Sachs said. "He wants the background. He asks the right questions. I like the process with him."

Dean's chief domestic policy advisers are a husband-and-wife team, Harvard law professor Christopher Edley and Maria Echeveste, who was deputy chief of staff under Clinton and the highest-ranking Hispanic in Clinton's administration. Echeveste and Edley, who headed Clinton's task force on affirmative action, are volunteers.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26720-2003Dec1.html

[xultar]

1. Kewl, all candidates should consult with experts n/t

[Fleshdancer]

2. Impressive article

Does the Washington Post plan on letting us know who the other candidates consult with? Between the nine of them, I imagine it's a pretty incredible group of people.

[killbotfactory]

3. This just shows how inexperienced he is

John Kerry fired all his advisors and makes up policies by himself.

... oh wait, that's because he's run out of money and everyone's quitting... </cheapshot>

[WilliamPitt]

11. Erm

Kerry fired his campaign manager. His communications director and deputy budget manager quit to protest the firing of the campaign manager. His advisors are still with him. They are:

Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the man sent by Cheney to suss out the Niger claims in Iraq, who returned to call the claims crap, who said so on the pages of the New York Times, whose wife (CIA agent Valerie Plame) was outed as an act of revenge and intimidation by this administration against him.

Rand Beers. Hell, you can read about him here:

Former Aide Takes Aim at War on Terror

By Laura Blumenfeld
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 16, 2003; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62941-2003Jun15?language=printer

Five days before the war began in Iraq, as President Bush prepared to raise the terrorism threat level to orange, a top White House counterterrorism adviser unlocked the steel door to his office, an intelligence vault secured by an electronic keypad, a combination lock and an alarm. He sat down and turned to his inbox.

"Things were dicey," said Rand Beers, recalling the stack of classified reports about plots to shoot, bomb, burn and poison Americans. He stared at the color-coded threats for five minutes. Then he called his wife: I'm quitting.

Beers's resignation surprised Washington, but what he did next was even more astounding. Eight weeks after leaving the Bush White House, he volunteered as national security adviser for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), a Democratic candidate for president, in a campaign to oust his former boss. All of which points to a question: What does this intelligence insider know?

"The administration wasn't matching its deeds to its words in the war on terrorism. They're making us less secure, not more secure," said Beers, who until now has remained largely silent about leaving his National Security Council job as special assistant to the president for combating terrorism. "As an insider, I saw the things that weren't being done. And the longer I sat and watched, the more concerned I became, until I got up and walked out."

No single issue has defined the Bush presidency more than fighting terrorism. And no issue has both animated and intimidated Democrats. Into this tricky intersection of terrorism, policy and politics steps Beers, a lifelong bureaucrat, unassuming and tight-lipped until now. He is an unlikely insurgent. He served on the NSC under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and the current Bush. The oath of office hangs on the wall by his bed; he tears up when he watches "The West Wing." Yet Beers decided that he wanted out, and he is offering a rare glimpse in.

...more...

[FrenchieCat]

4. Well, now that's impressive!

:boring: compared to Bush's team. Too bad that he has to rely on others!

[pruner]

5. Clark is an Army of One

la la la la la

[FrenchieCat]

10. Damn skippy!

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0209.clark.html

An Army of One?
In the war on terrorism, alliances are not an obstacle to victory. They're the key to it.

By Gen. Wesley Clark
A few days after September 11, I happened to be walking the halls of the Pentagon, the scene of so many contentious meetings during my years as commander of NATO forces in Europe, and ran into an old acquaintance, now a senior official.
We chatted briefly about TV coverage of the crisis and the impending operations in Afghanistan. At his invitation, I began to share some thoughts about how we had waged the Kosovo war by working within NATO--but he cut me off. "We read your book," he scoffed. "And no one is going to tell us where we can or can't bomb."

That was exactly how the United States proceeded. Of course, the campaign in Afghanistan, as it unfolded, wasn't an all-American show. The United States sought and won help from an array of countries: basing rights in Central Asian states and in Pakistan; some shared intelligence from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other Muslim states; diplomatic backing from Russia and China; air and naval support from France; naval refueling from Japan; special forces from the United Kingdom, and so on.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. With all due respect, it is a big world

I want a president who consults with others. The difference is Bush was PROPPED UP by his team of advisors. Even during the recount James Baker was practically using TEAM BUSH to apologize for GEORGE Bush.

I am currently NOT in Dean's camp but I want a president who will get the BEST advice on world matters and foreign policy and frankly, if it weren't that he gets slammed so much for the IWR vote, the candidate with perhaps the BEST understanding of WORLD matters IMHO, both diplomatic and concerning conflict is John Kerry.

[unfrigginreal]

13. Yeah, it's a shame that we couldn't get Madonna

now that would be impressive.

[FrenchieCat]

14. Well,

You've got Martin Sheen.....

[creativelcro]

6. Thanks for the post!

[creativelcro]

7. I love the "ignore user" option!!!

DU has been soo much nicer since i updated my "ignore" list... I recommend it to everybody... There are obvious troublemakers posting on DU, whether they are conservatives trying to disrupt or simply brain damaged people... Ignoring them is the best way to deal with them...

[WhosNext]

9. Dean shows alot of wisdom by doing this.

[pruner]

12. Former Air Force chief (during Persian Gulf War) backs Dean candidacy

Retired Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak, the former Air Force chief of staff who endorsed George W. Bush in 2000, has left the Republican fold and is backing Democrat Howard Dean in the 2004 race for president.

McPeak, who lives in Lake Oswego, joins a small but growing list of top military veterans who have parted ways with the president at least partly because of the war in Iraq. McPeak's decision could be an important boost for Dean because critics have accused the former Vermont governor of lacking the experience and knowledge needed to be the nation's commander-in-chief.

<snip>

McPeak, who headed the Air Force during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, criticized the Bush administration's policy toward Iraq before the invasion in March. He also said he has become disenchanted with the president's economic policies.

"I don't think the younger Bush has put a foot right since he entered the White House," said McPeak, who changed his registration from Republican to independent in April.

When it comes to Iraq, "we couldn't have sat around a kitchen table and designed a policy that was stupider," McPeak said. He argued that there was no evidence of a connection between Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, "absolutely zero evidence of weapons of mass destruction, and the planning of the formation of the coalition (to support the war in Iraq) was very clumsily done."

<snip>

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1069160753167110.xml