Meditating the question, some Americans perhaps thought that Mr. Dean's war cry after the Iowa vote suggested derangement of some kind. He was, after all, the candidate who wondered out loud whether President Bush had known ahead of time of the impending attack on New York City on September 11. Sober analysis of Dean's economic programs, universal health care, re-regulation of industry, a virtual end to free trade, heavy taxation ? all of that began turning some people into skeptics.
Still, he was the man toward the elevation of whom 3,500 young Americans traveled to Iowa from every corner of the United States. He was the favorite in virtually every poll taken over a period of three months. When he appeared on the cover of both Time and Newsweek it was generally thought that here was a populist destined to overturn American politics.
What then happened was a slide in Democratic public opinion from exhilarated, enthusiastic endorsement, in the direction of Mr. McEntee's judgment that Dr. Dean was, well, nuts. Democratic revaluation began to set in, and Governor Dean moved from overwhelming favorite to bedraggled third place.
That kind of corrective renewal bolsters faith in the tactical achievements of democratic practice. How can these be understood in Iraq, let alone appreciated and absorbed? The 20th century lunacy of one-man one-vote is a heavier potion of democratic elixir than the Iraqis can swallow. But can they be brought to understand that?