I think Howard Dean would make a great Secretary of Health and Human Services.
He's tough and compassionate. He understands the world of new media better than most - he was really the first Internet candidate in 2004, but was ahead of his time. YouTube and Twitter did not even exist back then.
Howard Dean also deserves at least some major credit for Obama's great victory. As head of the Democratic Party, Dean presided over a bruising primary - which resulted in a huge Democratic victory, and maybe even more incredibly, the winner's main opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the cabinet as Secretary of State.
Getting universal health care won't be easy. It will take someone willing to twist arms, twist and shout, as well as talk sense and cajole. It will take someone with knowledge of the field - and Howard Dean is an MD.
Tom Daschle's withdrawal is disappointing. President Obama can turn this into a powerful, golden opportunity by appointing Howard Dean.
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Patty Jane Maher
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Dr. Vanessa Neumann
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But he would be a great Secretary of Health and Human Services!
Repugs don't appear to be touch with the latter.
Damn, I wish they would seat Franken!
Rahm Emmanuel.
(rated)
Replacing Daschle with Dean would sober them up quite nicely.
If he can be vetted, and let's face it the questioning needs to be a lot more invasive from here on in, Dean has the stubborness and the prestige to fight this fight.
One thing though: watching MSNBC last night, one of the talking heads made the comment that Dean and the Obama team "don't get along that well". Has anyone else heard this?
Blow it out your Republican tailpipe! The right has had its day in the sun--waaay out on the right. Nothing wrong with a balanced return to the far left. And please ditch the ad hominim attack.
Dean would be fantastic. He truly is a transformational person. His candidacy was the first one that gave me hope that change might really be on the horizon.
And that 50-state strategy should count for something.
I don't know much about how he and Obama get along, but I have heard rumors about some tension with Rahm Emanuel (mostly about that 50-state strategy, and who should get credit for the last two elections giving the Democrats major victories in both houses).
I'm not optimistic, though, about Dean getting the nomination.
On the fence. Could be good. Could be not so good.
Maybe Dean could do for health care what Gore did for global warming?
The other personal twist in all this: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Dean do not get along at all. This stems from the differences they had in strategy in the 2006 election when Emanuel advocated targeting specific states and congressional districts and Dean favored a 50-state approach.
The stuff about Dean and Emmanuel doesn't matter. Dean CAN get along with anyone, but he actually does his best work when he is able to follow his own instincts (and be his own boss). I've seen it.
Daschle..... Like the man, but that was a massive embarrassment
Quoted from source EthanAllen: "Howard Dean MD was an early and enthusiastic backer of single payer, endorsing Sen. Cheryl Rivers' single payer bill of 1991 and urging Vermonters to "learn from Canada and England."
Jeffrey Dach MD