MyDD :: Why Donnie Fowler is Wrong for DNC Chair

Why Donnie Fowler is Wrong for DNC Chair

by ProgressiveChristian, Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 11:51:03 AM EST

Although it appears that Howard Dean has the DNC chair wrapped up, last year's primary and election clearly demonstrated Yogi's $10M truism "It ain't over 'til it's over." So I'll do a little more piling on.

With Democrats in a minority, it is no longer possible to focus on the tactics of Turnout (Fowler's specialty) to win elections. Future victories will be won with the strategy of Message that connects both with existing Democratic voters and voters that are a natural Democratic constituency but currently vote Republican. Message is not Fowler's strength, as demonstrated by some excerpts from Fowler's 2/1/05 appearance on Air America's Morning Sedition (archived on AirAmericaPlace.com).

The opening exchange with mildly hostile hosts Mark Maron and Mark Riley gave some insight into Fowler's message weakness. He might have been having a bad day, but I saw him at the Eastern Regional Caucus and came away with the same impression:

MARON: So lemme ask you something right out of the bat (sic)...tell me, ya know, alot of talk, alot of lip service has been paid to...Democratic core values. Tell me what those are, Donnie.

FOWLER: Opportunity, access, getting a fair shake if you work hard and play by the rules. A strong family, a strong community. We want a strong country too and, can you believe it, we believe that families are important.

MARON: Well no one...I know...well no one's against any of that stuff, but tell me a little about access and what does that mean and what does opportunity mean and specifics.

FOWLER: Yeah...well...the...I wanna add one more thing. One KEY value of the Democratic party is breaking down historical barriers that keep people from succeeding, historical and artificial barriers. If you look at the...the tradition of our country and the things we value most...

MARON: Mmm hmm...

FOWLER: Democracy, uh, you know, we eliminated slavery...

MARON: Mmm hmm...

FOWLER: We gave women the right to vote...

MARON: Mmm hmm...

FOWLER: We gave workers the right to organize, we eliminated Jim Crow segration laws... Everybody who advocated those...those issues, those philosophies, at their time, was considered a liberal or even a radical. And today we take those rights for granted. We say, of course women should vote, or course women should have the right to vote. But back then, that was a radical notion. So, this notion that liberals or progressives are EVIL and BAD and bringin' us to the wrong place is just crazy. The Democratic party has...embraces, embodies the traditions...the best traditions of our country.

Maron set the ball on a T for Fowler, who then hits a slow dribbler in front of the plate for a quick out. Fowler's opens with a series of vague platitudes that Maron immediately had to seek clarity on. Fowler does manage to clumsily detail some of Progressivism's historical triumphs (including emancipation, which is a Republican triumph), but expresses it in terms of the conservative frame. His decision to be a victim and assume a defensive stance had everything to do with his talking points and nothing to do with Maron's positive question.

Fowler is later asked to differentiate himself from Dean and manages to give a fuzzy response that only obfuscates the issue:

RILEY: I'm curious, Donnie Fowler...you seem to be saying alot of the same things that former Denver mayor Wellington Webb was saying, yet he decided to drop out of the race and endorse Howard Dean. How come he didn't back you?

FOWLER: Well, lemme tell ya, uh...grassroots and state parties are fashionable these days. Five years ago, ask these guys what they were doing. They were buying TV commercials... they were elected officials, all of which are very important. They were raising money and giving it...giving it to candidates. But what the Democratic National Committee needs now is...is to build up state parties...to help the state parties get on a firm footing so they can compete.

RILEY: ...but Wellington Webb was saying the same thing you're saying...

FOWLER: ...yeah...that's what I'm saying. Everybody's saying the same thing now because it's fashionable to be grassroots. Grassroots is cool all of a sudden. But my point is what differen...differentiates me is that I've been doin' party...working with the parties... I've been working in the grassroots for nearly 20 years. And if you need somebody... if the national party needs somebody to help build up the party...understand what state, county and local parties need, then hire somebody who's been there. Four years ago, the party needed somebody to catchup...fundraising. Terry McAuliff was the right person at the right time. Four years from now, the national Democratic party may need someone else...to do something different. But right now, we gotta get...we gotta...Everybody's sayin' grassroots, But ask them have they been doin' grassroots.

The whole interview was kinda like that. After Fowler hung up, Marin and Riley summed it up pretty well:

MARON: That was Donnie Fowler, DNC uh...

RILEY: He didn't really answer your last question, did he? (laughs) I don't know, maybe it's me, but he didn't say...

MARON: It's wierd, I, ya know, like, I felt like I was chipping away at something. I mean, I was tryin' to...to find a way in, and there were a couple of moments that we found a way in, but it, ya know, I...ya know, it's interesting...he talks just like Terry McAuliffe. (laughs) And I, ya know, maybe it's all...all similar but I don't get that feeling, ya know...uh...it's just...It's interesting when you feel like...I was getting a wave of information...but I wanted to hear the soul of the cat.

RILEY: OK, but now... you heard 'em.

MARON: Yeah.

RILEY: Still back Dean?

MARON: Yeah.

RILEY: OK.

MARON: You?

RILEY: Jus' checking.

MARON: You don't know yet?

RILEY: I don't know yet.

A few other random tidbits:

Fowler's primary appeal appears to be that he is not the other candidate and that his father held the office before - eerily reminiscent of the 2000 presidential campaign. And, speaking of his father, I had a very hard time finding ANYTHING on the web about his father, other than that he was a former DNC chair.
Although Fowler is occasionally mentioned in connection with Wesley Clark's campaign for president, his website bio (which is hard to find on his website) does not mention his early departure from that campaign in either a power struggle or a dispute over involvement of grassroots draft Clark supporters, depending on who you listen to.
Fowler's website bio strongly touts his turnout achievements in Michigan. However, no specifics are given into what Fowler actually DID to get those numbers in an economically depressed state with a natural Democratic constituency that has a really hot Democratic governor.

Tags: (all tags)

Permalink :: 10 Comments :: Post a Comment

Heard this live (none / 0)

You're right that Maron tried to make it easy for Donnie but Donnie couldn't follow through on it.

Your final bullet raises a point I made early on: it's not enough to tell what you did you need to tell people how well you did it. The lack of outcome information on Donnie's bio is telling and when asked directly by others on this blog, he failed to answer directly.

by KimPossible on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 12:04:54 PM EST

I Agree (none / 0)

The fundamental problem that has plagued Democrats lies not only in turnout, but in delivery of message. Notice I don't say CHANGING the message, simply how we DELIVER our message. All of the pledges to vote in the world won't help if those voters aren't driven enough by our message to get out there and cast a vote.

The New Democrat

by demburns on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 12:13:28 PM EST

Attacking Fowler (2.66 / 3)

Wow!

Fowler may still be a tiny threat to Dean.

So what's a Deaniac to do? Let's attack him on MyDD!!

Yeah!

Is this what you Deaniac will do if Dean actually becomes Chair? If someone in the party (senator, congressman, DNC member) publicly disagrees with Dean, will the Deaniac Blogg Machine roll out attacks and hate email?

I am starting to think that MyDD really stands for My Daily Dean!

Stop attacking fellow Democrats. It is time to unite, strengthen, and conquer the Republicans!

by Bill70 on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 12:26:37 PM EST

Re: Attacking Fowler (none / 0)

The problem with Fowler has nothing to do with liking Dean or not. And it would be a mistake to assume that motivation behind concerns about Donnie are just politically motivated. They aren't...except in, my case, I feel sorry for the next poor SOB who makes the mistake of hiring him.

Donnie himself said politics is a contact sport, and while he has been playing hard to win, he has also been making his share of fouls (fowls??) and gaffes which he seems blithely unaware of, and he continues to do it. And as long as he remains in the race, his behavior AND record is an issue.

At some point, people who don't like Dean are going to have get off of this mindset that somehow discussing Dean's opponents in candid terms is not always motivated by the need to promote Dean, but actual real concerns about the party. And to assume that Donnie's behavior hasn't raised red flags among the voting members is to ignore reality. There were a lot of voting members of the ASDC who were majorly pissed off about Brewer's and Fowler's manipulation of the Executive Board endorsing process...which was a deciding factor for not a few heads of state parties to go to Dean.

And it isn't just Dean people who are finding Donnie a huge pain in the ass. Ask Rosenberg supporters what they think about Donnie.

by nanorich on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 02:55:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Attacking Fowler (none / 0)

I'd be interested to hear some Rosenberg supporters talk about Fowler too--since he mistakenly reported on his blog that Rosenberg had dropped out of the DNC chair race! Do we want a man who can't even be bothered to check facts before he reports them as our party leader? Personally, I don't. Also, as far as shouting down supporters of other candidates just b/c we like Dean--I made numerous comments in several places that I would be pleased with either Wellington Webb or Dean. Unfortunately, Webb didn't have the numbers or name recognition of Dean, so I can't bolster him anymore since he dropped out.

Having reservations about an opponent to your guy doesn't mean you have a one track mind--it just means you have reservations about an opponent. And Fowler has given us many reasons to question his candidacy and his ability to revamp the party. Hell, I liked the guy--I didn't know much about him when I went to the Eastern Regional Caucus last weekend, and just from listening, I thought he was a solid candidate. I then came home and read up on him and have decided that though he is able to sell himself in front of an audience, I don't think he has what it will take to bring the Democratic party up to speed, plain and simple.

It isn't always about being in opposition for the sake of being in opposition.

Katherine Brengle Massachusetts

by Katherine Brengle on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 03:38:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Attacking Fowler (none / 0)

1) The bulk of my diary is direct quotation of Fowler's words. I attempted to provide some context to make it fair. And I included some additional chatter to give it viewpoint.

2) A healthy internal discussion is helpful for communicating ideas and, ultimately, determining the future direction of our party. The time for unity will come once this phase of the process is complete and we have a clear message to send to our country.

3) Our Republican friends have consolidated around a limited set of rigid ideology with no room for meaningful debate. While that has given them almost unlimited political power, we can see where that closed loop of thought is leading their party and our country

4) Although I can't speak for my fellow Deaniacs, I will certainly defend Dr. Dean when I feel he is correct and object when I feel he is wrong.

5) The pro-Dean leaning of the MyDD community has been obvious for some time.

by ProgressiveChristian on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 03:01:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Attacking Fowler (none / 0)

5) The pro-Dean leaning of the MyDD community has been obvious for some time.

That's for damn sure.

"into your illusion, i make my intrusion"

by fng on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 04:24:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Pro-Dean? Horrors!! (none / 0)

The reason MyDD may sometimes appear to be pro-Dean Bill70, is because it is Pro-Dean.

"Unless Roemer publicly, loudly, and completely repudiates his recent [pro-privatization] position on Social Security, he is utterly unacceptable as DNC chair," said a post on the pro-Dean site MyDD.com, which served as a key clearinghouse of information about the race. (Roemer did repudiate that position, but it wasn't enough.) By the time Roemer showed up on "This Week" for a Sunday morning announcement of his candidacy, which, in the old days, might have helped solidify him as the establishment choice, he was badly damaged. He spent most of his interview with George Stephanopoulos defensively responding to bloggers he had clearly never heard of, like MyDD and The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum. "The bloggers, the Internet is a very, very useful tool for us to communicate with voters, ideas. I'm very excited about it, but it can also misinterpret a vote," he complained.

Sorry to disillusion you Bill70.

by Gary Boatwright on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 04:48:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

We will need this man (none / 0)

in the future.

At least he is a Dem with passion for winning,something even our elected officials could use more of.

And we all know DEAN is in.

Let's all play nice and stay united.

There are bigger fish to fry.

by Sam Loomis on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 04:27:27 PM EST

If you haven't read this article (none / 0)

in the New Republic, http://tinyurl.com/4phx7, go there right now and read it.

It gives best rundown I have seen about the race for the chair which I have seen to date, providing much needed context, plus some major laughs with regard to what happened.

The section on Brewer and Donnie is priceless.

One of the things that initially keep me on the Dean Team is how damn smart he is....

even the most outspoken Dean hater might walk away from this story with a little grudging respect for the good doctor. Essentially he outmaneuver our parties hottest hot shots, and beat them at their own game.

He is a fast study, old Howard.

by nanorich on Thu Feb 03, 2005 at 06:49:11 PM EST

You are not logged in.

In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.

If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.