Two men are talking tough and straight to the American
people, they are the leading candidates for the
Anti-Bush: Wesley Clark (D-NATO) and Howard Dead
(D-Jeffords). The LNS suggests they run together, and
I do not care which one is at the top of the
ticket...Read this story to see how "Dr. Dean" slices
his way out of the plastic bag that the NYTwits
reporter pushed over his head...
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1009-02.htm
Published on Thursday, October 9, 2003 by the New York
Times
Dean Says Bush is Setting the Stage for the 'Failure of America'
by Jodi Wilgoren
WASHINGTON — Howard Dean, a candidate for the
Democratic presidential nomination, on Wednesday
offered perhaps his most overarching critique yet of
the Republican incumbent, saying, "I think what the
president is doing is setting the stage for the
failure of America."
"If you look at what's happened to other great
countries," Dr. Dean said over lunch with reporters
and editors of The New York Times, "they get in
trouble when they can't manage their money — and this
president's certainly proven himself adept at that —
and they get in trouble when they overstretch their
military capabilities."
Howard Dean, a candidate for the Democratic
presidential nomination, sharply criticized the
president's foreign policy Wednesday. (NYT
Photo/Stephen Crowley)
"This country's a great country, and the reason it's
an important country is not just because I'm an
American and proud to be an American," he continued.
"America is the beacon of hope for the rest of the
world. We are the last country on earth where cynicism
doesn't pervade government. Americans really hope that
things are going to get better in the world and they
can make things better, and Americans believe more
than any other people that we can make things better
by sheer will and money and hard work."
Dr. Dean said he expects jobs to be the primary issue
in next year's general election, and he expects Ohio
to be the critical swing state. But he spent most of
the interview answering questions about foreign
policy, attacking President Bush on Iraq and North
Korea and promising to send former President Bill
Clinton to the Middle East as a peace broker.
President Bush, Dr. Dean said, is "particularly poorly
suited" for foreign policy "because he has a black and
white view of the world, and foreign policy depends on
enormous understandings of nuances and trade-offs."
As the former governor of Vermont who got a medical
deferment to avoid service in Vietnam, Dr. Dean said
he would combat criticism of his national security
bona fides by surrounding himself with people who
could inspire confidence in such issues.
Though he declined to speculate on cabinet
appointments or potential running mates, Dr. Dean, who
has lately spent much time attacking his Democratic
rivals as Washington insiders who have, collectively,
spent more than a century on Capitol Hill, said he
would also pick people who could navigate the Beltway.
"The most important criteria for whether you're going
to be any good at foreign policy or not is judgment
and patience, both of which are in short supply in
this presidency." Dr. Dean said. "The major mistake
that governors make when they come into Washington is
they think subconsciously that the relationship
between the Congress and the president is somehow like
the relationship between the legislature and the
governor," he added, predicting that "getting someone
who understands the levers of power in Washington is
going to be important as well."
Regarding Iraq, Dr. Dean, who opposed the American
invasion this spring, promised to bring National Guard
and Army reserve troops home, leaving 70,000 American
troops, and to add about 110,000 international troops,
mostly from Muslim and Arab nations. Some experts say
that is probably unrealistic, considering the military
capabilities of American allies in the Middle East.
Other than urging repeal of recent tax cuts to pay for
reconstruction, Dr. Dean refused to say how he would
vote, were he in Congress, on the $87 billion
financing proposal.
"I'm not running for Congress, I'm running for
president," he said.
On North Korea, Dr. Dean said Mr. Bush had bungled the
situation by announcing at a news conference with Kim
Dae Jung, the former president of South Korea, that he
planned to pursue a policy of isolation toward North
Korea. While the news conference was not as explicit
as Dr. Dean described, Mr. Bush and the South Korean
leader split sharply on Korea policy at that meeting
early in Mr. Bush's presidency, and their relationship
never recovered.
Dr. Dean said he would conduct bilateral negotiations
on the principle of constructive engagement — "that in
return for a verifiable ending of their nuclear
program," he explained, "they would be back in the
community of nations."
"You will improve the behavior of rogue nations and
have more leverage to do so if they're inside the tent
than if they're outside the tent," he said. "The
president and his neocon advisers decided they were
going to teach the North Koreans a lesson, and
unfortunately, North Korea has the power to inflict a
fairly painful lesson on us."
Dr. Dean declined to discuss the other Democratic
rivals except to say "they all come from Washington,
which I think, this year, is going to be a problem for
them." Though he said it was too early to draw broad
lessons from the California recall, he said the
message is change which he painted as positive for his
campaign.
"My strategy is, we're better than this, we can do
better than this," he added. "America's always been
the country of hope and of high moral principles and
ideals. Let's hope again."
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
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