Howard Dean's Opinion on Race

Well if Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean's says race played a role in the federal government's delayed response to the New Orleans victims of Hurricane Katrina, then it must be so. Remember, this is the same Howard Dean who said this:

"I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

as well as this:

"White folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us, and not [Republicans]..."

This is also the same Howard Dean who pretty much lost all of his momentum in his campaign for the Democractic nomination after this unforgetful line of questioning and waffling:

SHARPTON: You keep talking about talking about race. In the state of Vermont — where you were governor '97, '99, 2001 — not one black or brown held a senior policy position, not one. You yourself said we must do something about it. Nothing was done. Can you explain — since now you want to convene everyone and talk about race, it seems as though you have discovered blacks and browns during this campaign.

{AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE}

SHARPTON: How you can explain not one black or brown working for your administration as governor?

DEAN: Well, actually, I beg to differ with your statistics there -

SHARPTON: This is according to your paper in Vermont, the Associated Press, and the Center for Women in Government.

DEAN: Well, perhaps you ought not to believe everything in the Associated Press -

SHARPTON: Oh, so you're saying they're incorrect?

DEAN: We do have African-American & Latino workers in state government.

SHARPTON: I said under your administration. Do you have a senior member of your cabinet that was black or brown?

DEAN: We had a senior member of my staff on my 5th floor.

SHARPTON: No, your cabinet.

DEAN: No, we did not. [But the cabinet has only] six members.

SHARPTON: Then you need to let me talk to you about race in this country.

DEAN: Well, let me just say one thing, which I have said before but I'll say it again, if the percentage of African-Americans in your state was any indication of what your views on race were, then Trent Lott would be Martin Luther King.

SHARPTON: I don't think that that answers the question. I think if you're talking — if you want to lecture people on race, you ought to have the background and track record in order to do that. And I think that clearly people — governors import talent, governors reach all over the country to make sure they have diversity. And I think that, while I respect the fact you brought race into this campaign, you ought to talk freely and openly about whether you went out of the box to try to do something about race in your home state and have experience with working with blacks and browns at peer level, not as just friends you might have had in college.

Maybe Howard Dean needs to heed Al Sharpton's advice, once again.