Some interesting political stories have come to my attention over the past couple of days and I think they bear mentioning here. But fear not, loyal readers: there are no lengthy rants, harangues, or confrontational digressions ahead, only some links and news items that are probably of interest to no more than one in 100 people. I, however, am one of those oddballs who care about this sort of thing, and it is my blog, after all, so here we go…

First up, it looks like former presidential candidate Howard Dean is about to become the chairman of the Democratic National Committee following the announcement that his only remaining competition was bowing out of the race.
Dean is a controversial choice to head the party; many centrist Democrats fear he’s too liberal and will push the party further away from the mainstream, whatever “mainstream” means these days. Personally, I think he might be exactly who the Democrats need right now. In the months since the election I have become increasingly convinced that the biggest problem the Dems have as a party is that they have no clear vision or identity beyond a knee-jerk, “we’re not Republicans” reactionism, and that obviously doesn’t resonate with non-partisan voters. Also, the party, in general, suffers from being too willing to concede and compromise with opponents who aren’t willing to return the favor, and basically being just too damn lackadaisical. Dean has taken a lot of flack for his unseemly yelp during the campaign, but at least he’s willing to show some fire and spirit, unlike so many other Dems who routinely appear to be under the influence of heavy sedatives. (The prime example of which is our failed presidential candidate, John Kerry, who one of my conservative friends once accurately likened to the droning Treebeard.)

To be honest, I wasn’t very taken with Dean during the campaigns, but I really like his recent talk about developing and articulating core principles for the Democratic Party, about not being ashamed of having progressive ideas, about transforming the party into a voice for reform, and most especially about fighting back and not giving in. The Democrats need to become scrappers — the high-falutin’ intellectual discourse isn’t getting us anywhere — and if Dean can teach them that, then he’s my man. Of course, words are one thing and actions another. Will Dean really be an effective leader for the party? I honestly have no idea — there may be too much internal resistance for him to do much good — but he certainly can’t do a worse job than the jackasses that muffed the ’04 elections, can he? Oh, and as far as charges of him being “too liberal,” I respond by saying that it’s not going to do Dems any good to become watered-down clones of the Republicans (as some in the Party seem inclined to do), and anyway Dean doesn’t strike me as all that liberal. I think he picked up that tag because he was strongly against the Iraq War and the peaceniks made him their poster-boy because he refused to vaciliate on that point.

Moving on, the blogosphere was buzzing all last week with rumors that the mysterious “Deep Throat,” the Nixon White House insider who blew the Watergate case open for journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, may be ill and near death. Woodward and Bernstein have kept Deep Throat’s identity secret for 30 years, but they’ve always said that they will reveal who he — most likely it was a “he” — was after the man’s death, so political junkies and historian-types (who like to play “Who was Deep Throat?” the way movie fans play “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,”) are salivating at the prospect of an impending revelation. Assuming, of course, that the rumor of Throat’s illness is true. (The original source of the rumor was an L.A. Times op-ed that mentions it almost in passing before going on to discuss the subject of anonymous sources in general, so who knows?)

I recognize that this might not mean much to my three loyal readers. Watergate was a bit before our times, considering that most of us thirtysomethings were still in elementary school (or diapers) when Nixon resigned the presidency. However, if you know even just a little recent history, it should be obvious that the Watergate scandal was one of the most significant events of our lifetimes because it continues to resonate in our modern political circumstances. Many politicians on both sides of the aisle still harbor grudges over everything that went down in the early ’70s, and much of today’s toxic atmosphere in Washington was generated, in part at least, by that investigation. Certainly the modern cultural of cynicism and disdain for elected officials stems from the revelations about Nixon’s administration. Prior to that, people may have disliked a particular president and his policies, but I don’t know that they actively distrusted him, at least not on principle.
Besides all that Big Historical Stuff, Deep Throat is a mystery, and people love a good mystery. I personally suspect, however, that when his identity finally comes out, folks are going to be surprised to learn that he wasn’t anyone particularly important. I’m willing to bet that DT was a clerk or a janitor or someone equally unglamorous who just happened to be in the right place to overhear certain conversations. My favorite theory is that Deep Throat was just a couple of ditzy dog walkers. (That’s a joke, son…)

Incidentally — or perhaps “coincidentally” would be the better word — the infamous porno movie that gave Deep Throat his pseudonym is getting a re-release this month. I find that terribly amusing for some reason.

Finally today, we’re going to be hearing a lot of talk over the next few weeks (months?) about President Bush’s goal of privatizing the Social Security system. The spin machines are already churning away and it’s quickly going to become very hard for the average person to tell what’s going on. If you want to keep tabs on who is saying what in this debate, I can’t think of a better source than Josh Marshall’s always excellent Talking Points Memo. Josh has made this Social Security thing his personal crusade lately, and although he’s coming at it from an unabashedly partisan perspective — he’s a moderate liberal who thinks the scheme is boneheaded and callous — he is frankly the most reliable source of solid information that I’ve found. Josh also takes the trouble to try and explain the situation, rather than just reporting on it. I highly recommend this post, in which he clearly delineates what Social Security is and what the President wants to make it into. He also reminds us of what President Clinton really said about saving SS and why he said it, versus what the President is trying to make us think he said.

Well, that’s all for now. Assuming that anyone is still reading, have a happy Friday and a good weekend — I’ll be back on Monday with the long overdue conclusion of my musings on the new Battlestar Galactica series. (There’s a new episode on tonight for those with the SciFi Channel. I don’t have it myself, but, hey, that’s what friends are for!)