Governor Dean on "You Have The Power"

A discussion on Howard Dean's book

took place on Wednesday, January 19, 2005 at 9:00 - 9:30 PM EST on the BLOG at

Questions were submitted in advance to Governor Howard Dean. Here are the questions and his responses:

This is Howard Dean. Thank you for joining us as we discuss my book "You Have the Power." Politics must be powered by people and not by special interests. America is losing her way and this book is a road map for the Democratic Party to become the party of ordinary Americans again. I believe this is the direction that we need to take to take our country back.

Primarily, "You Have the Power", reflects what I discovered in the American
people during the Dean for America campaign and what I discovered in myself. I believe the principles set down here are true, and achievable, and that it is
crucial to act on them now and forever.

Community is the power. There are more issues that unite Americans than divide Americans, and "wedge issues" won't be able to get a foot in the door of the people and parties that recognize and support their communities. I wrote about our house-parties, that they were and are not about fund-raising or necessarily campaign actions, but that they put people getting to know each other at the center of the grassroots campaign. (p.161) Not issues, not fund-raising, but people and their feelings, their life stories, their personal experiences.

The Blog Book Club online community, it seems to me, is another good example of the power of community. You learn and grow together. You know how to agree to disagree, you empower each other with knowledge, and you energize each other - you do have the power.

--Howard

Q: What role is there for Latinos/Hispanics in the New Democratic Party?

Gov. Dean: Hispanic Americans are a voting group which we are in danger of losing simply because we have not, as a party, made enough of an effort to pull them towards us. They are our natural constituency for economic reasons, and because of the anti-immigrant wing of the Republican Party. We need to reach out to the Hispanic population with the issues they care about like family, health, jobs and education. We also need to make sure every core constituency group has a place at the hiring table so we can assure diversity in both officeholders and budgetary outlays. Latinos for America has been a great example of training in both English and Spanish. The DNC needs to do this as well.

Q: If you do run the DNC, how would you keep the Washington Democratic culture from stifling you---us?

Gov. Dean: I’ve thought about this a lot. This is a risk, but given the enormous strength of the grassroots, I’ll either win because the Democratic National Committee really wants to change how we organize, or I’ll be rejected because the members are not ready for that change. There are a lot of good people at the DNC, and I think they are ready to fight and win. If that isn’t so, they won’t elect me.

Q: What do you think of former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill's proposal (NY Times OpEd 1/16/05) to use the current Social Security System as the vehicle through which wage earners would, by law, deposit 12.4% of their income annually into compound interest savings accounts?—msirasky

Gov. Dean: I don’t know about his proposal, but the President’s proposal is a total fraud which will do nothing to reduce the Social Security shortfall, and put our kids into two trillion dollars of additional debt.

Q: Do you see a continuing role for DFA if you become chair, or do you wish us to substitute Democratic Meetups, etc., for our current DFA activities? -- volneysimmons

Gov. Dean: DFA will continue. DFA is far better at creating local grassroots connections than the DNC, and it will take the DNC a while to catch up. There are also some complicated election laws which make DFA a very useful independent force. DFA is also only a little more than half Democrats, there are also Greens, Progressives, Perot people, McCain people and even moderate Repblicans. We need to keep all of these people engaged.

Q: Governor Dean, You did ask us to work with the local democratic parties, what if that is not possible? What if "they" only wanted to use us for atm's and cheap volunteers? Can we just work with other like minded groups and labor unions?
--Vicki L Trojnor

Gov. Dean: Absolutely, you have no obligation to work with any organization that does not share your values. That is one reason DFA should remain independent even if I become DNC Chair. I will probably have to referee a couple of these fights, but they are worth having. Sometimes change requires working through these tough issues.

Q: Did you hear Barak Obama's comment ? "We (Americans) have an empathy deficit. We seem to have lost the ability to stand in someone else's shoes." That is not an exact quote but it captures the essence. Please let us know what you feel about this. Thanks so much. Natalie Burrows

Gov. Dean: I think the real problem is hate radio (Rush Limbaugh), hate television (Bill O’Reilly) and weak leadership in the White House. All three of these influences encourage our worst instincts instead of our best ones. I actually have a lot of faith in the American people--if they only had strong leadership. After all, look how they responded to the tsunami tragedy as an example of the empathy and goodness inherent in the American people.

Q: Gov. Howard Dean, are you prepared to act as a voice and leader for a VERY, VERY long time? How about if you don't get Chair? Then? -- Kimmy

Gov. Dean: No matter what, I’m involved in some way. We need election reform, health reform, foreign policy reform, environmental policy reform and fiscal policy reform. Whatever it takes to get us there, I am in.

Q: Your book mentions briefly how to fix Social Security--raise the ceiling on payroll deductions above the current $87,000. Another subject of Bush threats is "tort reform," to illustrate which the media always cite medical malpractice fees (though I think Bush cares more about product liability for his manufacturer friends than about whether an obstetrician has to stop delivering babies). Aren't there some doctors somewhere who've banded together to self-insure and who can put the lie to this hoax? (States that have enacted "tort reform" have seen no shrinkage in the premiums for medical malpractice; the whole is precipitated by insurance companies, regardless of doctors' performance. And though insurance companies charge different rates to drivers with good and bad histories, they practice no such discrimination with the medical profession.) -- Cicely Nichols

Gov. Dean: Tort reform, Bush-style, failed to lower malpractice premiums in Texas. What we need is insurance reform and universal health insurance to reduce administrative costs. There is a real malpractice problem for ob/gyns and other specialists.

Since Bush’s plan has already failed where it has been adopted, I think we ought to try another approach which involves practice standards. An M.D. who does not deviate from practice standards will be held harmless. This will separate negligent physicians from those who got a bad result through no fault of their own. Arbitration will help as well.

Q: Do you see a way that the many progressive, and moderate, groups, in addition to the DFA, with all of the post-election leftover infrastructure, can be supportive of each other, pool resources, or whatever is needed to have a united front to help change the Democratic Party? ?

Gov. Dean: Yes. You know, I always talk about the common interests among Americans, even with those who vote conservative. You’d be amazed at the common interests that progressives and moderates have. It’s usually the degree of the pace of change and the willingness to fight that divides us.

If we focus on our similarities and not our differences, we can be inclusive. We also need, however, not to compromise on core Democratic issues, particularly labor issues, environmental issues, social justice issues and women’s issues.

Q: "It's the Media, Stupid", says it all. What are we doing to gain control of media? It is the most effective way to get our message to the general public, but right now it is almost totally biased toward spouting the conservative message...and clearly helped the right wing gain complete control of the government in the last election. I know we were able to get a lot accomplished on the internet, but that's clearly not enough! Zelda Penzel NY, NY

Gov. Dean: Until we get control of the FCC and Congress, we can’t do a lot except use the Internet for news sources, as well as bring economic pressure to bear on advertisers who buy time on Fox, Clear Channel and Sinclair-owned stations.

Q: How much energy in the near term should the grass roots put into the national vs. the local Democratic Party? Do most of the Washington Dems recognize how extremely right-wing the GOP is, and do they agree that it will only make things worse to compromise, as you say in your book? Are the D.C. Dems going to step up to the plate?? -- DeanRX2.0

Gov. Dean: Local is always the most critical. We ultimately will continue to lose influence at the federal level unless we learn how to win at the local level. The State Legislatures, after all, are in charge of drawing the Congressional districts!

Q: In November 2004 many voted for Bush while agreeing with Kerry's policy positions. How can this be explained, beyond the "strong and wrong" over "weak and right" Clinton quote you cite? -- Cicely Nichols

Gov. Dean: Our Democratic message was not clear. We need to be clear and unambiguous in our positions, and we need to play offense not defense.