The man who originated the 50 state strategy that Obama used to win the election simply isn't on his radar screen. It's ironic that the early left wing blogger arguments against Clinton included claims that if she won the election, then Dean's tenure would be over because he wasn't her kind of politician. I wonder how those people feel about Obama ending Dean's tenure as head of the DNC?

I have watched, appointment by appointment, as they have been awarded, looking for even a hint that Dean was being considered for something. HHS would have been appropriate. Surgeon General is still possible.

Obama, as well as America, owes Dean a measure of gratitude that should be recognized. I have to woder what Dean himself wants. I felt he left the DNC in good standing, and resigned as a matter of tradition. But he must have his eye on something.

(about Obama's treatment of Dean) -- much as you would expect. But for me not surprised. It is a rare national level Democrat who cares more about the Party than his own glory. (I think we had such a man in Dean not so much in Obama and not at all in Emmanuel) What does surprise me is how ham handed this has been handled. For someone who ran such a fine tuned campaign - he surely hasn't handled the care and feeding of his party (particularly the "base") with much elegance.

I've been major-league annoyed with Howard Dean ever since he stood behind the disenfranchisement of us Florida Democrats. Yes, I'm a Florida Democrat who voted for Hillary in both the Primary and the General Election. Probably the only one of the latter, but I wanted my vote to count.

Altho Obama should probably be more nicer to Dean for that very reason. If Florida and Michigan had been counted in the primary, his current title might be "Vice President-Elect Obama". And guess who would be Madam President? Clue: Not Sarah Palin.

So Obama should really be nicer to his former partners in crime, and he apparently has quite a few.

Just kidding. Far be it from me to criticize Our Savior.

The DLC is why Dean's an unperson in the wake of the Democratic victory. The DLC will always be why Dean gets snubbed. And being so amply represented in Obama's administration, the DLC will continue their policy of being Republican Lite as a way of supposedly winning. In other words, complete pooch screwing, here -- Obama won because of a populist surge from Americans desperate for change, not because of DLC triangulation, accommodationist policies. But, as ever, the DLC misreads their weak tea leaves, and draws precisely the wrong message from 2006 and 2008, and we'll hear plenty of bullshit about avoiding "overreaching" and so forth, continue to see their pathetic neoliberal politics thrown out as reform. The DLC are a political Trojan Horse, corporate politics at their craven worst, and have them positioning the Democrats where the Republicans used to be, before they went off the deep end.

Dean's 50-state insurgency represents a threat to the status quo, to the duopoly of the Beltway consensus. Nothing threatens American politicians more than the threat of grassroots democracy. The DLC will try to astroturf Obama's administration in a big way, and that'll piss off the majority of Americans who want real change.

Dean may be the invisible man in the Democratic Party, but those who get it understand why Dean matters now more than ever, and those who don't support the DLC. What a shame, what a waste of a great victory. Get the bucket brigade going, DLC folks -- time to thin the broth some more, hope people don't catch on.

My guess is that the Obama people are rushing right now to get all of these things done. They seem to be forgetting that in WDC, Bigwigs and Grandees will permit the most outrageous crimes against humanity, will ignore the most egregious behavior, but will yelp like dogs if someone reminds them that they might not be the center of the universe. Diane Feinstein's complaint about Panetta seems to have been that she was not asked. Dean's "People" now swear revenge for this slight.

I'm not certain what the Obama game is. When Clinton came into office I remember the complaints that he was ruffling too many feathers and not blowing enough smoke up the butts of sub-assistant-interim associate secretaries of undefined power but high salaries and not following the unwritten rules of washington protocol. These people eventually stalled his healthcare agenda. (Hillary to Congress-here is the plan now vote. Contress to Hillry-you didn't ask us, so here are 20 competing plans that we've come up with. Oh, now we can't decide between all those plans, so lets do nothing.)

I remember Bush people coming in and basically telling the Democrats that they did not matter anymore. Bush managed to accomplish quite a bit of his agenda.

Maybe Obama's people have learned from Bush that you accomplish more by ignoring Democrats than you can by including them in your decision-making process.

Dean clearly favored Obama over Clinton. I would have thought Obama had a sense of gratitude. Moreover, Obama is not stupid, so I don't understand why he would snub Dean. I expected him to either put Dean in his cabinet or ask him to stay on at the DNC.

Dean was a big help to Obama during the primary (particularly his handling of the Michigan/Florida voting mess), plus his 50-state strategy seems philosophically in line with the President-Elect's thinking. Setting aside the "snub," which might have been inadvertent, I have found it strange that Dean hasn't been mentioned for any administration post. He would be a more qualified candidate for Surgeon General than Sanjay Gupta!

Maybe this is Emmanuel's influence over Obama at work?

Don't piss on my leg and tell me its raining.

I've been wondering for a couple of months what appointment Howard Dean will get. I was hoping for Surgeon General or Secretary of Health and Human Services, but this story provides the answer: nothing. Without his 50 state strategy, Obama would likely not have won the election.

Surprise of surprises, it appears the reason for Dean's snub is Rahm Emmanuel, he of the "sharp elbows." I suspect that before all the dust clears in the Blagojevich scandal that Emmanuel will be looking for a new job himself. He'll have plenty of free time to sharpen his elbows.

Things are not looking so good for the beginning of the new administration. Our economy is collapsing, and our ruling elite - the corporations, Wall Street, the mainstream media, the policy "think tanks," the Congress, and other hangers-on - are self-programmed to look out for their narrow elite interests. They are doomed to failure. To the degree that these self-dealers have influence over Obama and his minions, many of whom are part of this self-dealing elite, his economic plan is also doomed to failure.

The momentum of the victory is rapidly losing steam. It can be revived by some real statesmanship, but that requires more independence than seems likely. We are on our own, and should start getting used to it.