Governor Howard Dean has a perfectly clean slate with me: I had never heard of him before his 2004 presidential campaign. And since then, all I've read about him is a couple of entries on Lawrence Lessig's blog. Like Manuel would have said: "I know noothing".

Just about what I do know is that Dean is currently a "guest blogger" at Lessig's blog, but then again, every internet connected man+dog knows that. On second thought, that knowledge is probably exclusive to us super enlightened bloggers (and our pets).

Dean's first post at Lessig's is about re-regulation of the US media, the first paragraph goes like this:

The Internet might soon be the last place where open dialogue occurs. One of the most dangerous things that has happened in the past few years is the deregulation of media ownership rules that began in 1996. Michael Powell and the Bush FCC are continuing that assault today (see the June 2nd ruling). Governor Howard Dean

(My emphasis)

Considering the fact that Dean is a politician with a clear and distinct goal -- to be elected president in 2004 -- I shouldn't have been surprised to see him go all campaigning on me in the very first paragraph. I guess "surprised" is the wrong word, try "disappointed" on for size. I hoped Dean would express his political opinions and goals without even mentioning or hinting at the fact that the Bush administration is flushing the nation down the drain.

Dean's second post is about the Iraq war:

As a doctor, I'm trained to base my decisions on facts. This President never adequately laid out the facts for going to war with Iraq--perhaps, as it turns out, because the facts were not there. I opposed the war not because I'm a pacifist--I'm not--but because the evidence presented did not justify preemptive war. I opposed needle exchanges for drug addicts until I saw the empirical evidence that showed how such exchanges reduce the spread of disease. I changed my position, and I'm proud of that. Facts are a better basis for decisions than ideology. Governor Howard Dean

Don't get me wrong, I agree with Dean, wholeheartedly. In fact, I'm glad a man with such views has made it to candidacy in the rotten political landscape of the US. But, instead of focusing on what Bush did wrong -- and god knows there's plenty to pick from there -- let's hear about how things will be done right if Governor Dean becomes President.

To quote Rands in Repose:

It sounds like a presidential candidate who is delivering a targeted message at specific demographic. While it's informative, it lacks humanity... a personal voice. Dean transforms Lessig's informative legal weblog into a platform for political shenanigans. While Lessig is free to do whatever he damned well pleases with his weblog, I would like to see Dean embrace the opportunity differently. Rands in Repose

Which brings me to my next point: Howard Dean is publishing an online journal, and while that isn't the same thing as blogging, it's good enough for me. He even briefly mentioned the possibility of a Whitehouse blog. I would hope that he'd keep writing after/if he's elected, if I didn't think my hope is better invested in finding live Marsians, barbequing on Pluto!

Presidents don't write their own speeches, what are the odds that Dean will be humoring the relatively puny crowd of bloggers with daily or even weekly personally written posts in his weblog? I'd love to be proven wrong. Please, Governor Dean, prove me wrong; write.

Unfortunately, Howard Dean's own "blog" -- blogforamerica.com -- seems to confirm my suspicions; the posts -- apart from those mirrored from Lessig's blog -- are all written (signed) by people other than Dean himself. I'm guessing that -- at best -- we'll get a regular PR channel, disguised as a "Whitehouse blog", assuming Dean gets elected.

I hope I'm wrong.

Like I said in the beginning paragraph, I don't know anything about Governor Howard Dean. While I mean to find out, I'm already fairly sure he's better apt than Bush is, I mean, how could Dean possibly be worse?

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