“Subtitled "The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics," it is primarily a history of the significance of Howard Dean in the recent developments of the Democratic Party.
You may recall that Howard Dean was one of the also-ran candidates early in the 2004 primaries. His candidacy fizzled, but not his rather radical 50-state strategy for rebuilding the party which had been divided and conquered by the Bush campaign. His point was that grass roots action was the strength of the Democratic party, and therefore the party needed to abandon the top-down mentality of those who wanted to pull the strings from Washington.
Not long after he gave up on his bid for the White House, he was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The party, for good or ill, has not been the same since. Most specifically, the Dean strategy was adapted and adopted by the Obama campaign in 2008, while Hillary Clinton clung to the insider party machine. We all know how that turned out.
Unfortunately, the machine reasserted control once Obama won, and most specifically in the person of Rahm Emmanuel. Rahm hated Howard Dean, and the feeling was (probably still is) mutual. Emmanuel is an insider's insider, and Dean is the rebellious outsider. Obama went from outsider to insider in November of 2008, and developed under Emmanuel's advice. Advice that backfired on him more than once.
What emerged from the grass roots success of 2008 included Organizing for America, the organization I have been working with in the lead-up to the 2012 campaign. And Ari Berman sees OFA as the best hope we have for a real reform of how politics is done. Makes me feel good. Makes me feel so good I'm going to add half a star to my rating. There.
This is an insider's book, and would probably bore a person who is not particularly interested in Democratic politics. But I suspect it's very instructive to Republicans, as it also maps the path of the Tea Party activists on the other side. If you're interested in politics, especially if you live outside the US and would like to understand why we are so very strange, read this book.”
