Chairman Dean, Authenticity, and the 50-State Strategy

If religion forms
your political core and you want to talk about, you should — and in

strong terms and without fear. If you are not a religious person, don't
force it. Speak clearly about your vision and values, and take it from
there. Prove that you believe in something — even if that something is
not the Almighty. But, always remember, inauthenticity kills.

The cover story in the New York Times Magazine this week features DNC
Chairman Howard Dean and his 50-State Strategy. The article,
entitled "The Inside Agitator" by Matt Bai, chronicles Dean's recent
efforts to build a competent party apparatus in each of the 50 states
(as well as recent spats with Congressman Rahm Emanuel and Senator
Chuck Schumer). Anyone interested in insidery gossip and the internal
machinations of the Democratic Establishment should definitely check it
out.

The article also got me thinking about how the mission of Faithful
Democrats could (and should) tie in with any effort to create a more
competitive Democratic Party. As I view it, our mission encompasses at
least three related goals: 1) To express in personal terms the ways in
which our Christian values animate our political commitment to the
Democratic Party; 2) to begin to demonstrate to our brothers and
sisters of different faiths and of no faith at all, areas in which we
share common goals and values; 3) and finally, to fight back against
the misperception that Democrats are hostile to religion.

In talking to many of my (mostly secular) friends about this effort,
one general concern is that our efforts are both largely tactical and
clumsily prescriptive. In other words, as they see it, our thinking is
as follows — Americans are largely religious. The Democratic Party is
viewed as largely secular. Therefore, Democratic candidates must inject
15 "Jesuses" into every speech and all will be well. Furthermore, they
fear, certain candidates who are not particularly religious will feel
the need to "seem" religious.

This is a legitimate concern, and their key insight is important for
all Democratic candidates to keep in mind — inauthenticity is much
worse than perceived (or explicit) secularism (no matter the state). In
short, my advice to any candidate is pretty simple — if religion forms
your political core and you want to talk about, you should — and in
strong terms and without fear. If you are not a religious person, don't
force it. Speak clearly about your vision and values, and take it from
there. Prove that you believe in something — even if that something is
not the Almighty. But, always remember, inauthenticity kills.

Which leads me back to the article on Chairman Dean. Towards the end
of the article, Bai notes the irony of the champion of the liberal
grassroots also serving as the most steadfast advocate of strong state
parties in red states like Alaska and Mississippi. To illustrate this
tough balancing act, Bai refers to a speech Dean gave to a culturally
conservative Latino audience in Las Vegas:

"It’s not that Dean doesn’t try his damnedest to make himself palatable to
culturally conservative voters. Acting on the advice of Cornell Belcher, his
young pollster, he has taken to framing his positions in terms of faith and
values, sometimes so transparent that it can make you wince. In Las Vegas, I
heard Dean, who is not known to be a religious man, say to a Latino audience, “I
don’t expect the church to come out for gay marriage, but I do expect that we
could say on an issue like this, ‘What would Jesus do?’ Equal rights under the
law is not something that can be abridged by the Democratic Party, because it’s
really the law under Jesus Christ.” The audience stared at him a little blankly,
as you might stare at your mechanic if he rolled out from underneath your car
and suddenly started speaking Latin."

Check out the article, and let me know what you think. It's a real page-turner.