It's More Important to be an American

Howard Dean was in Raleigh this morning speaking at Democratic Headquarters. It was the kind of speech which reminded me how proud I am to be a Democrat.

He was promoting the 'post-partisan' perspective that Obama espouses: It's more important to be an American than to be a Democrat or a Republican.

For eight years, George W. has been giving the finger to people like me and questioning my patriotism. Even if I won't be getting every bullet point on my progressive agenda, I see President Obama's effort to reach out and include all Americans as building a broader political consensus for the issues I consider most important: health care, tax fairness, energy, and environmental policies, and the War.

Dean was welcoming to Evangelicals, promoted the DNC's 50-state strategy ("It's a sign of respect to ask people for their votes," and framed universal health care as a jobs program (witness the struggling auto industry responsible for employer-sponsored coverage), not just a human services issue.

He was pragmatic. I like pragmatic.

A few Deaniacs were there wistfully wearing their 2004 Dean T-shirts. Good people.

Paulette Hill has posted a YouTube video of the event here.