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Changes to the Dean campaign staff were necessary. The screw ups of the last few weeks have been devastating. Joe Trippi is a visionary that did an amazing job, but the campaign seemed to be in over their heads recently.
I am sad to see Joe Trippi go. I hope he reconsiders and takes a new position with the campaign. What he has to offer cannot be replaced. But I am glad Dean has done something to shake things up. Perhaps the Trippi situation is similar to what happens in sports sometimes, as with the Chicago Bulls during Michael Jordan's years with them. Their coach during Jordan's early years, Doug Collins, did a fine job developing the team into a championship contender. But they could not get to the top and win championships until they fired Collins and brought in Phil Jackson.
Here are some of the mistakes the campaign has made:
-- Not having Dean prepared for a disastrous Iowa debate. Dean seemed taken aback by Sharpton's attack on him for not having any minorities in his cabinet. They had two years to prepare for this question! (And Dean has a very legitimate answer: there's 3,000 African-Americans in Vermont. If you cut out the Republicans, those too young, and those too old, you are left with a pool numbering in the hundreds. If you only had a pool of a few hundred white people, how many do you think would have the experience, capability, and desire to be a State cabinet member? Probably zero.)
–– The campaign's supporters focus too much on themselves. A lot of them are impressed with the movement they have formed (as they should be), but they don't realize how this looks to many average Americans. It has a clique-like feel to it (we're cool and you're not). Having thousands of out-of-staters so visibly storm the state and try to convince the people of Iowa how they should vote was a disaster waiting to happen. This is taking nothing away from the great people that are so enormously dedicated and have done so many good things for the campaign, but the focus was too much on the Perfect Stormers rather than on Dean and his credentials. This should have been toned down.
-- The Iowa speech. It is beyond comprehension how this was allowed to happen. Somebody should have been fired within an hour of this taking place. The fault for this speech is not Howard Dean's. All of these candidates push themselves to exhaustion and are in a constant frenzy (as is their staff). They pay some people very good money to make sure they are prepared properly. Dean's speech was not unusual for him to give to a boisterous crowd of his supporters. But that was not the audience that really mattered! Most people don't watch C-Span and don't watch the primary debates. For the first time, millions of voters would hear a Dean speech and were curious to see for themselves what he was really like. An enthusiastic speech showing his spirit would have been fine, but this was way over the top, and he never did address the viewing audience. It was as if he was unaware that there were cameras and millions of viewers there. How could his staff not have him prepared for his big introduction to America? Again, it is beyond belief. (I have seen the idiom studio video from the crowd--this illustrates how television and the media distort events, but that does not in any way excuse the campaign's staff for not being aware of this. They should know that the microphones will pick up Dean and not much of the crowd, and prepare Dean accordingly.)
-- Last night's speech. I tried to view the speech as an undecided "average" American who is seeing Dean live for the first time might view it. There were many excellent things about last night's speech. The timing was excellent, just after the 10 o'clock est news shows began. The setting was excellent, inside a gym that is made for generating crowd noise. Also the positioning of the cameras was very good, in tight on Dean but capturing the people's arms between Dean and the camera that really added to the atmosphere. The few minutes of loud unending applause at the beginning was very good. The love Dean's supporters showed for him was genuine and moving. The speech itself was quite good, a mix of his stump speech with quite a bit of new stuff, including the "and we will." My general feeling about the choice of words was positive, but I feel like the speech is still a work in progress. Dean's delivery for the most part was excellent. He just about has his voice back. There were oratorical moments during the speech that few contemporary politicians ever come close to. On MSNBC afterward, Matthews and his guests were almost stunned. You could almost see them silently reevaluating Dean.
Now the bad things about last night. First, I kept waiting for Dean to congratulate Kerry. It never happened! He didn't have to concede defeat, but I'm sure most people would expect a few words of congratulations for finishing first in New Hampshire. Again, how could he be so unprepared? Thankfully, it does not seem to be a major issue today as I feared it might be. The biggest screwup last night was again not understanding the television medium. In situations like last night the networks will show a candidate's speech as long as they think it's worthwhile--but if they think it's become too boring they will cut away to their talking heads or somewhere else. Dean's speech was highly anticipated because of Iowa, so he had the networks and their audience ready to give him their time. But halfway through the speech, when he was speaking in a tone that was so damn moving and that made you feel he was speaking of a cause so much greater than himself, he stopped to say hi to some people he recognized, and then began thanking people! This was the cue for all the networks to cut away. I started flipping channels and they all had left Dean except C-Span, where you could see the ending of his speech. Why are the Dean staff so unaware of the medium they are dealing with? Television is, unfortunately, how most people get their news and learn about the candidates. It is still the most powerful force in national campaigns. If you don't learn how to control it, it will control you. The speech should have been a tight 15-20 minute speech with no breakaway points.
These are just some of the mistakes as I see them. Notice I have not mentioned Dean's "gaffes." Most of this is bullshit manufactured by the media and those who want to stop him. His statement that "the American people are no safer now that Saddam has been captured" is so obviously true that it really needs no defending. But yet, CNN pollster Bill Schneider and others have said that this statement began his slide in the polls. I live in Manhattan with my wife and two children. In the back of everyone's mind here is always the thought that we could be attacked again. This is especially a concern for parents. Yet after Saddam's capture, I did not hear one person express any kind of relief that we were less likely to get attacked now. I'm sure no one, Democrat or republican, feels any safer at all. But Howard Dean is hammered for daring to state the truth, even by some of his less politically courageous opponents.
I still have hope that Howard Dean will have the opportunity to be seen by more Americans as I see him through my eyes. I have never before had a politician make me stand up and cheer, give me goosebumps, or make me cry as Howard Dean has done. I dream of Howard Dean giving a speech that is viewed by the entire nation, one in which people become clearly aware of the darkness that has descended upon our nation, and are inspired to rise up and restore the rule of the people.
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