Two weeks ago, President George W. Bush stood on the steps of the United States Capitol… Two weeks ago, President George W. Bush stood on the steps of the United States Capitol Building and was sworn in as president for the second time. Bush had coattails last November, not only helping his party reclaim the White House, but also helping pick up seats in both the House and Senate, widening the GOP’s margin of domination.

Bush’s new appointees to various cabinet positions are equally, if not more, right-wing than his initial appointees were four years ago. I thought John Ashcroft and his USA PATRIOT Act would be tough to follow in terms of absurdity, but if anyone can, it’s former White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, who wrote a memo authorizing the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib; he’s just a Senate vote away from confirmation as the new Attorney General.

In the coming months, we’re likely to hear of plans to privatize Social Security and cut the Medicare budget. We’re also likely to hear about the race for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee — a race that could wind up being a turning point for the Democratic Party. The most popular candidate for that position is physician and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

I contend that the American public’s sway toward a desire for a more conservative public policy has a lot to do with the Republican leaders displaying the intestinal fortitude to stand up for their party’s values and less to do with the American people agreeing with those values. Presentation is an important part of the message, and, like it or not, the Republican Party has perfected the art of crafting its message to appeal to a majority of voting Americans.

The Democratic leadership is comprised of a group of uninspiring, gutless cowards. For example, new Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is so drab and boring that C-SPAN viewers across the country are likely to join Ted Kennedy in slumber whenever Reid has the floor. Reid replaced Tom Daschle, who lost his seat in November after the people of South Dakota realized that if their Democratic senator was going to keep siding with the president, they might as well elect a Republican.

The party has lost all its clout over the course of the last three national elections. For the United States’ left-wing party to right itself, a change in leadership is necessary.

Enter Howard Dean. Dean has already announced his candidacy for the chairmanship of the DNC, and has received 50 endorsements from DNC members, including five former chairs. The party chairman is usually a “nuts and bolts” guy — someone whose strengths lie in organization and delegation. Dean, a one-time Democratic presidential hopeful, doesn’t fit the traditional profile of a party chairman, but perhaps that’s just what the party needs.

During his bid for the Democratic nomination, Dean’s campaign relied heavily on the Internet. The Dean for America campaign used a decentralized, grass-roots organization that raised what can only be described as a heapin’ mess of cash. When Dean dropped out of the race, the good doctor did not go quietly into the night, and Dean for America became Democracy for America, keeping alive the organization and enthusiasm for real democratic ideals that his campaign worked so hard to raise.

That Dean was briefly the front-runner for the Democratic nomination puts him miles ahead of the other candidates for the chair. And having a party chairman who’s recognized by a plurality of Americans is also a step in the right direction. Think many Americans know the name of the current party leader? How about the name of his predecessor? Putting a recognizable face at the head of the party can only help foster its revival.

Dean’s an exciting and charismatic speaker, he’s shown that he knows how to raise money, and, above all, he made people excited about being Democrats while the party leadership cowered in a corner, refusing to acknowledge, let alone show, its own teeth. Rather than simply tossing his hat in the ring, Dean dove in head first, as only Dean can, declaring:

“That word — values — has lately become a code word for appeasement of the right-wing fringe. But when political calculations make us soften our opposition to bigotry or sign on to policies that add to the burden of ordinary Americans, we have abandoned our true values.”

The elections of 2000, 2002 and 2004 all came and went with high expectations and disappointing outcomes, shattering Democrats’ hopes across the country. This is the time for the Democratic Party to overhaul its infrastructure, and that starts with choosing a party leader who isn’t afraid to believe what he believes. It’s time for a change — just what the doctor ordered.

Matt Wein has eagerly anticipated the Dean revival for months now and practices his own “Dean yell” every morning in front of his bathroom mirror. E-mail him your best Dean impression at [email protected].