Dean: The Chairman's Colorful Cabinet (Diversity)

[Adelante]

The American Prospect

The Chairman's Colorful Cabinet
Howard Dean is bringing minorities to the top of the minority party. That's rarer than you might think.

By Jamal Simmons
Web Exclusive: 05.03.05


Question: What do Branch Rickey, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Howard Dean have in common?

Answer: Each of them made a decision to break the color barrier by picking African Americans for key spots on their teams. Rickey, of course, signed Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers. Clinton appointed Ron Brown as the first African American to head the Commerce Department and Franklin Raines as the first black Office of Management and Budget Director (among others). Bush has followed in that tradition by naming African Americans as national-security adviser and twice as secretary of state -- Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Rice again, respectively.

And Dean?

Dean recently joined this notable list when he brought Cornell Belcher on as the first African American to serve as polling director for the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Not sure hiring Belcher is as significant as recruiting Robinson, Brown, Raines, Powell, or Rice? Well, consider this: There are five indispensable people in any campaign organization -- the campaign manager, who vets all decisions; the finance director, who figures out how to pay for the enterprise; and the media adviser, the research director, and the pollster, who decide what the campaign will talk about, what its vulnerabilities are, and how to defend against them. Political director and field director are also key positions, but it is the “Indispensable Five” who typically gather to make most of the major decisions of any campaign organization. Inexplicably, despite the necessity of African American support for Democratic victories, almost none of these senior decision-makers are ever black.

-snip-

Dean and Belcher are making an effort at reconnecting the party with the voters by launching a project to find the issues and messages that resonate with Bush voters. After losing the presidency (twice?) and six consecutive congressional elections, this is the most important thing for Democrats to figure out. Democrats want to protect the nation from terrorists. We want to help working people, their families, and businesses compete (and win) in the global economy. And we want to help parents who are raising children in an over-sexualized and hyper-violent culture. We must find a message that will convince voters that we can be trusted to do these things. Hopefully, the diverse team that Dean is assembling at the DNC will have better luck finding that message than Democrats have had in the recent past.

Jamal Simmons was traveling press secretary for the 2003-2004 presidential campaigns of General Wesley Clark and Senator Bob Graham.

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=9647

[Totally Committed]

1. Jamal Simmons...

a real Class Act!

TC

[Adelante]

9. Cute, too

:)

[tishaLA]

12. You ain't kidding

[Crunchy Frog]

13. Anybody have any pictures to back up this claim?

:D

[CarolNYC]

15. Jamal

I believe he's in this really cute WesCam episode...
http://a471.g.akamai.net/7/471/9997/v0001/clark.download.akamai.com/9997/wescam/dartmouth/wescam4_hi.mov

[Larkspur]

2. Wow! Will Kucinich write a public letter commending Dean for diversifying

the DNC management levels?

It seems that Dean is following through on something he had been wanting to do since he was governor of VT -- giving opportunities to qualified minorities to help our Party and our nation.

[Totally Committed]

4. I agree.

It's great he's doing this.

TC

[lojasmo]

3. Very nice article.

Thanks for posting it up, Wesdem! :hi:

[DoveTurnedHawk]

5. Dean Kicks Ass

End of story! :-)

DTH

[Cha]

6. Thanks, WesDem, for this

good news regarding who our polling director is..I had not heard this.

May you have a long and successful run,Cornell Belcher, as "the pollster, who decides what the campaign will talk about, what its vulnerabilities are, and how to defend against them.":D

When I googled Cornell Belcher..I got this among other links..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1419632&mesg_id=1421749&page=

[LittleClarkie]

7. Recommended

I like what Dean is doing, and I like that the person who posted this for us is a Clarkie. Thanks dude.

[Cha]

8. I like that, too!

Dean tries to reach diversity in the Party..that's the way we're going to win.

[Crunchy Frog]

10. Thank you for sharing that.

It sounds like Dean is doing something really important there as far as finding out which issues and messages will resonate with enough people that we can really win elections with them.

Sounds like Dean is on the right path with this.

[incapsulated]

11. This is very good to see....

It's about time, too. The DNC can take the AA vote for granted for only so long and desperately needs that POV.

Good for Dean.

:thumbsup:

[BootinUp]

14. Definitely a good move

reminds me of the Clinton days a little. :)

[melnjones]

16. sweet. nt