Dean hoped that some prominent mainstream Democrat would step forward to challenge Biden. None having stepped forth, Dean will. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn’t quite count and he has since moved on in any event.
Dean hasn’t told me and I haven’t asked, but I believe the reason Dean called for a Democratic challenger to Biden is obvious. Dean diplomatically frames it in terms of the need for generational change. Like the little boy in the tale of the emperor’s new clothes, he must see what his Democratic colleagues are otherwise afraid to say. As he mounts a challenge to Biden from inside the party, his conscience will be clear. I’m not so sure about that of his Democratic colleagues.
[I had no idea that the two of them were related. They are, clearly, not closely aligned politically but certainly seem to be familially. I share Scott’s historical enthusiasm about Phillips’ potential for a Eugene McCarthy moment in 2024, but I don’t see any statesmen or stateswomen in the party that would pull Democrats away from the progressive cliff. Four years ago, the only such faint hope was Biden himself. Maybe we should cheer for Phillips to do a bit better than McCarthy did. — Ed]
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