As elected chairman of the Democratic Nominating Committee and a
frontrunner for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, Howard
Dean has faced larger, more critical audiences ““ but
Wednesday evening he spoke to a UCLA lecture hall filled with
student supporters to its 227-person capacity.
“I could teach chemistry here,” he joked at the
beginning of his speech, which would go on to emphasize the
importance of young people in the political process and of
appealing to a new generation of voters and politicians.
“I think Dean appeals to the younger generation (more)
than other politicians do. I think he comes across as more
captivating and passionate, which identifies more in that respect
with the college-aged individuals he was speaking with
today,” said Loran Hayes, a first-year biology student.
The event, put on by the Bruin Democrats, consisted of a
20-minute speech and a 20-minute Q-and-A session, and is one of the
many college stops Dean has made.
After six years without a Democratic president and with the
current Republican majority in legislature, Dean said the
Democratic Party needs a change ““ it must adjust to a new
generation of people “who want to do politics
differently.”
He described the idea of identity politics: Although a party is
made up of different groups with different identities, what brings
them together is a common agenda.
But what Dean’s generation considers “common,”
he said, has changed with time. So the party’s tactics must
as well.
As part of the change, Dean said the Democratic Party is trying
to appeal to typically non-Democratic communities, such as Southern
states ““ which the party “gave up” on in the past
two elections, he said.
According to Dean, the new agenda includes a stronger health
care plan that will “benefit everybody in the country, just
like 36 other countries have.” Dean also mentioned more
affordable higher education and more jobs that will stay within the
country.
In his speech, Dean criticized President Bush’s relations
with nuclear nations like Iran and North Korea.
In a statistical manner, he went on to criticize Bush’s
policies on abortion and the war in Iraq.
“Sixty percent of Americans believe it is immoral for the
government to tell a women what to do about her reproductive health
care. Fifty-six percent of Americans thought … it was immoral to
send our kids to die in Iraq,” Dean said, followed by a
series of cheers from the largely Democratic crowd.
He went on to call the Bush administration the “sorriest
excuse for an administration … ever.”
Kent McKernan, a first-year mechanical engineering student and
registered member of the Green Party, said the speech was more a
“Bush-bashing” than an informative discussion of the
party’s tactics in the next election.
“I was hoping to receive a better understanding of the
Democratic Party and their policies, and feel (as though) Dean told
me ideas I was already familiar with,” McKernan said.
Students asked Dean about such issues as the rising cost of
education, advice for college students on jump-starting a political
career, and the war in Iraq.
Dean said the president made a huge mistake in his approach to
the war, and he understands the Department of Defense cannot bring
the troops back immediately.
However, he believes the administration must transfer troops to
Afghanistan, train the Iraqi troops, and withdraw by 2007.
“I’m not going to be part of another mistake of a
war from my generation happening in your generation,” Dean
said.
Greg Wannier, external vice president of Bruin Democrats, agrees
with most of Dean’s responses and believes Dean has done well
for his party.
“What he’s done … and what he’s proposed is
great,” Wannier said.