It probably seems like I link to more anti-Howard Dean articles than pro-Howard Dean articles, but really it’s because I understand Dean’s strength’s pretty well and I’m more interested in his weaknesses. Yesterday William Saletan wrote an article discussing Dean’s strengths and his two biggest weaknesses. I have to say, I don’t understand Dean’s continued insistence that all Bush tax cuts must be repealed. It may or may not be the right thing to do, but the position is clearly a loser. Someone famous once said “politics is the art of the possible.” Even if dropping all of the Bush tax cuts is the right thing to do economically, demanding it is a recipe for four more years of George W Bush, and he is certainly not going to repeal all of his tax cuts. There’s also a good chance that Dean would be working with Republicans in both houses of Congress. They aren’t going to repeal all of the tax cuts that they already enacted either. It’s not as though Howard Dean is somehow above pandering. He panders. So, Howard Dean, pander a bit more where it makes sense and put yourself in a position to win if you’re going to be the nominee.

Update: I think that many of Howard Dean’s so-called gaffes aren’t really gaffes. But I read that yesterday, Howard Dean said this:

This president is not interested in being a good president. He’s interested in some complicated psychological situation that he has with his father. He is obsessed with being re-elected, and his obsession with re-election is hurting the country.

The second half is fine. The first half about Bush’s father is not. It may be true, I have no idea. But Howard Dean has no idea either, and saying things like that really is beyond the bounds of good taste. Leave it to the liberal webloggers; that kind of crap isn’t going to play well with the fence sitters that the Democrats need to bring on board to win the general election.