Kos has a really good post up on Howard Dean and his leadership of the DNC. The highlights:
1. Dean has shown leadership on Florida & Michigan. He made clear before the primaries started that the rules needed to be enforced. He’s enforcing them. The Clinton campaign agreed with the sanctions until it became politically disadvantageous for them. Just because Dean doesn’t agree with the Clinton campaign’s new position doesn’t demonstrate a lack of leadership.
2. The Florida Democratic party openly mocked the DNC’s sanctions. They probably shouldn’t come to the DNC now, looking for help out of the mess they created for themselves.
3. The Washington D.C. Democratic establishment dislikes Dean. Democrats in the rest of the country like him quite a bit. There are reasons for that, and Dean is on the right side of those reasons.
He concludes with three bullet points about Dean’s position:
* Florida and Michigan violated DNC rules. Their contests don’t matter. The DNC rules committee can re-evaluate at the appropriate time.
* Florida and Michigan are more than free to hold sanctioned contests if they want.
* Dean thinks the process should play out. And once the final contest is in the books, in June, the super delegates should declare their preferences.
Being a leader is doing the right thing, even if it isn’t popular.
If all you did was do what was popular, you’re not a leader, you’re an electoral vote.