Who Is This Man?

Jonah Goldberg has questions:

Where is Howard Dean?

Is he in a bunker? Has he been muzzled? He's still the head of the Democratic Party, right?

I think Dean is keeping a low profile, letting the congressional leaders and the presidential candidates speak for themselves. But this certainly is an embarrassment for Dean fans and Democrats in general. I mean, how come he's not taking the sort of large public role that we've come to expect from political celebrities like Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan, a household name if ever there were one.

Comments

I think Dean is more analogous to Mel Martinez. Duncan would be a little more like the Tom McMahon of the RNC.

Posted by Anonymous | July 19, 2007 10:30 AM

well played sir.

Posted by MattOWU | July 19, 2007 10:55 AM

Jonah's complaint reminds me of the "Where's Nancy Pelosi?" meme that got batted around before the last election, and was just as silly.

It seems like these people get all their information from the circle-jerk of links that is the right-wing blogosphere. So basically, if the blogs haven't been making fun of Howard Dean lately, it appears to Jonah like Dean is intentionally trying to keep a low profile.

Meanwhile, out here in the real world, people occasionally do things that are not commented on by blogs. Shocking, I know.

Posted by Steve | July 19, 2007 10:57 AM

Jonah Goldberg, pwned again.

Posted by Freddie | July 19, 2007 11:00 AM

As someone whose job it is basically to watch cable news all day, I can say I've seen him give interviews the last few weeks on TV. Though he obviously hasn't had the same media blitz as someone like, say, Joe Lieberman, who's on more or less continuously, it's pretty weird to ask "Where's Howard Dean" as has been done erroneously with Nancy Pelosi in the past.

Posted by Benjy Sarlin | July 19, 2007 11:11 AM

What I'm wondering is, where's Barack Obama? The man's running for President, for crying out loud!

Posted by strannix | July 19, 2007 11:31 AM

Hey, where's my sunglasses? I just had them.

Posted by tps12 | July 19, 2007 11:36 AM

The reasons mentioned by Matt and others here are all pretty plausible: that he did what he wanted to do - win Congress - and then he stepped back to let the new majority do their job; that he doesn't want to get in the way of the presidential candidates - doesn't want - as a former candidate - to seem like he's trying to draw attention to himself; that he's out there just as much, but isn't saying as many crazy things that draw ire from the right (not quite what Steve/Benjy said, I know, but I'm allowed to translate).

Those are all fairly plausible explanations, and you could probably come up with even better ones, but it's not reasonable to compare him to Mike Duncan. Duncan is your traditional behind the scenes glad-handler, while Dean is a populist rabble-rouser who was brought on to connect with the netroots and get them all riled up with his red-face tirades.

Posted by Chris | July 19, 2007 11:50 AM

Where on earth did Martinez's title ("General Chairman of the Republican Party") come from? I've never heard of that before.

Posted by John | July 19, 2007 12:49 PM

It's not surprising Jonah can't find Howard Dean. Sources tell me he's still looking for Waldo.

Posted by Jay Allen | July 19, 2007 1:20 PM

Where is Howard Dean? Is he in a bunker?

I suppose Goldberg is trying to sound witty here, but I think it backfires a bit. It's like asking, "How can Harry Reid take this course of action? Is he living in a bubble?"

Posted by RSA | July 19, 2007 1:20 PM

We want more Chairman Mel!

The public demands more Chairman Mel!

Posted by brian | July 19, 2007 2:48 PM

I'm in no bunker! I have winnowed out a special hole in a maple tree and am subsisting solely on sap and grubs. And then when John Edwards wins the nomination I just KNOW he'll tap me as veep and pour me onto his electoral flapjacks and absent-mindedly run his sticky fingers through his elegantly, exorbitantly-coiffed hair and have to get another haircut and plummet in the poles and then step aside and I will by default have the nomination and BWAHAHHAHAHHA it's the SYRUP folks-- this tree is just a sticky chrysalis, and I'm HOWARD DEAN THE BUTTERFLY QUEEN, READY TO TAKE FLIGHT! I FLIT ABOUT ON GOSSAMER WINGS TURNING DARKNESS BRIGHT! I'M SWEET AND I'M CUTE AND I'M SHORT AND I'M WARM AND MY PRIORITIES ARE HEALTHCARE AND ELECTORAL REFORM! YEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Posted by Howard Dean | July 19, 2007 3:24 PM

The primary job of the RNC and the DNC is winning elections, not making policy. Of course, Dean and other heads from both parties have to talk a lot about policy in order to explain why you should vote for them, but he's not out there talking about Reed-Levin right now because there's no election for another 15 months. As the Bush administration has shown us time and again, and as Goldberg reiterates, the inability to grasp the distinction between governing and campaigning is endemic to Republicans.

Posted by ibid | July 19, 2007 3:45 PM

Pwning the Pillsbury Dough Boy of Yellow Elephant punditry is about as easy as finding a Republican in a whorehouse. Why don't you pick on someone your own IQ?

Posted by calipygian | July 19, 2007 4:03 PM

Where on earth did Martinez's title ("General Chairman of the Republican Party") come from? I've never heard of that before.

John - It's an amalgam of General Secretary (as in General Secretary of the Communist Party) and Chairman (as in Chairman of the Supreme Soviet). You know, just the authoritarian Stalinists harkening back to their role models.

Posted by calipygian | July 19, 2007 4:07 PM

Just adding... Not only is the general election a while off, but he really can't say much during the nomination process anyway. He needs to be able to defend whoever wins the nomination, so he can't be perceived as being on one candidate's side. Even if he didn't mention anyone by name, just giving a personal opinion on the issues could give the impression that a certain candidate is his favorite choice.

Of course, what's most absurd is the implication that Dean is being kept under wraps now that most of the country agrees with the position he had all along. Or that he's somehow lost his standing after the party handily won the first election during his tenure, thanks in large part to a 50 state strategy and the netroots movement that his presidential campaign helped bring to life (not that he always gets due credit for these things, but it would still be pretty insane to marginalize him after achieving some pretty remarkable objective successes).

Posted by ibid | July 19, 2007 5:40 PM

Where is Foley?

Posted by Midwest Maggie | July 20, 2007 7:10 AM

Repeated question for Jonah.

Where is Foley?

Posted by Midwest Maggie | July 21, 2007 7:36 AM