Howard Dean speaks to students on needed Democratic Party reform

Howard Dean makes an impassioned plea for young people to "take back their government" at his talk Feb. 23 at Anabel Taylor Hall. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

By Courtney Potts '06

Enthusiastic audience members packed Anabel Taylor Hall Auditorium on Feb. 23 to hear Howard Dean, former presidential primary candidate and newly elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, present his vision for the party's future. The lecture, titled "Reforms in the Democratic Party," was sponsored by the student-run Cornell Democrats, and was predominately attended by Cornell students. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), whom Dean called "a very early supporter" of his campaign, was also in attendance.

Tim Lim '06, president of the Cornell Democrats and a former Dean campaign worker, introduced Dean to tumultuous applause from the audience. "Gov. Howard Dean proved that candidates for the presidency must think outside the box if they want to wake up the masses," Lim said, citing Dean's "revolutionary" use of the Internet as a campaigning and fund-raising tool.

Dean began by addressing Lim's comments about his campaign's use of the Internet. "Let me not say that we were so smart -- we really discovered this by accident," he explained. "In fact, if we want to give the credit where it really belongs, the credit belongs to you," he said to the largely college-age crowd.

Dean praised the ability of blogs -- online journals and discussion boards -- to create a "two-way campaign" that allows ongoing communication between candidates and their supporters. "Think about campaigns where you see a 30-second ad ... but there's no opportunity to tell the candidate what you really think," he said. "There's no place for you in the campaign other than 'please send us money and give us your votes.'"

Dean went on to discuss his views on a number of current political topics such as Social Security, defense spending, labor issues and health care. Throughout the course of his speech, he fired off several barbs at President Bush and the Republican Party, many of which were met with laughter and applause from the audience. Dean accused Bush of using shady, "Enron-style accounting" practices on the national budget, including retroactively increasing his estimate of the national debt and not including spending on Social Security and the war in Iraq on the budget sheets. "You'd go to jail if you did that in the private sector," Dean said.

However, the main message of Dean's speech was a positive one, focused on where the Democratic Party is headed in the future. Dean said that he would like the party to be "the party of change and reform," specifically in the areas of health care, education, and spending. He would also like to see the Democratic Party be more proactive in how it's portrayed in the media. "Never again do I want to hear the president and his cronies calling us the 'pro-abortion' party. There is no such thing as a pro-abortion American," he explained. "Nobody thinks abortion is a good thing."

Dean encouraged the audience to become more politically active. "Voting's not enough," he said. He urged students to run for office, volunteer with campaigns, or at least make donations -- even small ones -- to their favorite candidates. "We raised more money in our campaign than anybody else, and we raised it from people who were giving an average of $100," he explained.

"I thought [the speech] was very inspiring," said Josh Bronstein '05, vice president of the Student Assembly and a member of the Cornell Democrats. "It was very impressive that [Dean] was able to speak from his heart" instead of using notes.

Peter S. Cohl '05, former president and co-founder of Students for Dean at Cornell, also was pleased with Dean's performance. "I think that he has the potential to redefine [the party's] message in a way that will help Democrats regain power in Washington and across the entire land," he said.

Earlier in the afternoon, Dean attended a rally in Ho Plaza to speak with students who were unable to obtain tickets to the sold-out lecture.

Courtney Potts is a Cornell News Office writer intern.