On the left, Howard Dean open to presidential bid

[yurbud]

156. Domestic politics works the way the Economic Hitman, John Perkins said foreign policy does:

If you don't play ball by the rules of the rich, you will be met with escalating push back

1. First, you'll be ignored and shut out, a la Dennis Kucinich in 2008.

2. If that doesn't work, character assassination. Dean didn't have any dirt, so they were left with that endless loop of that stupid scream, which only proved he shouldn't be a cheerleader. Bush was an excellent cheerleader, and it didn't see to help his judgment as president.

3. If Dean comes back and he is still an independent actor, and can survive character assassination (a tall order), the next step is the more literal kind, or blackmail with threats to his family or the like.

I wonder if he is consciously aware of that last part, and if not, how far he would go once he realized it.

Even if elected, I don't know if he would have the juice to make the profound changes that our system requires. He would practically have to be Gorbachev and reform himself out of a job.