This Disaster Was Years in the Making [View all]
The Dean Effect
Jump in the wayback machine with me, and lets set the dial to 2005. Trump was just the host of a goofy reality show, The UNC Tar Heels won the national championship,(sorry as a Tar heel grad I have to mention that), and the nation was faced with the existential nightmare of a second George W Bush administration. Turd Blossom and Chris LaCivita, (yeah, that fucking guy), had successfully swift boated Kerry , and W unleashed the horror of Samuel Alito.
Much like today, Democrats found themselves living out the SNL, Gingrich skit from 1998
What the Hell Happened? Enter, or re-enter Howard Dean. For those if you too young to remember Howard Dean, ( A sentence that is very depressing for me to write), Dean started a movement with his opposition to the Iraq War, and his Im running to represent the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party. If not for an unfortunate yelp, and non-stop media analysis of it, his campaign fizzled out. Rather than take the Davy Crockett route. Dean decided to capitalize on the momentum of his campaign, and created a movement
The 50 State Strategy
Following the election, and the requisite house cleaning at the DNC, Dean was elected head of the DNC, with the promise to build up the party in all 50 states. At the time the strategy was received with a lot of skepticism in the media and with laughter by the GOP. Funny thing was, Dean knew what he was talking about. By going to the states rebuilding local parties, investing in party building activities, and targeting local and state elections, the Democrats were able to build an apparatus that led to overwhelming Democratic victories in the 2006 and 2008 elections. The Democrats seemed poised to dominate for decades to come, BUT Then
What the Hell Happened Part 2
Obama won the 2008 election in a landslide and the Democrats expanded majorities in the House and Senate. The good times lasted
less than 2 years. After Obamas election, all the serious peope in DC were spouting gibberish about post racial America and Demography is Destiny. They conveniently ignored all of the racist dog whistles and fog horns the GOP kept blowing during the campaign, and passed off Sarah Palin as little more than an amusing buffoon, okay that was technically true, but they totally discounted the energy behind her rise, which was very much real and the embers that led to the Trump forest fire.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/12/2285608/-This-Disaster-Was-Years-in-the-Making