DEAN AND ME

Thankful and I, wearing multiple Dean buttons, went to see Heath Eiden's Grassroots movie today at the Roxy Theatre in Burlington.


                       ~ listener and Thankful

One of my sons joined us there, and I saw a few other people I recognised, but not as many as I expected. There were probably 60 people present. Heath was present and took questions and comments afterward.

This is my take on it. Thankful is on the road home now, and will offer her take after she's home, maybe later tonight.

Members of my family and I were present when Dean announced his campaign's beginning and it's end, and were volunteers at Dean HQ in Burlington. I mostly stuffed envelopes for meet-ups and fund-raising from October 2003 (just after a son's wedding) on through the beginning of 2.0., but also answered phones during the wildest 8 weeks of mid-December 2003 to mid-February 2004. So I was braced for a rough ride today, not sure I had really prepared myself to "see it all again" and to reflect again on the events of those painful days, which remain largely unresolved.

The movie was 88 minutes and really different than what I expected. At Deanfest I, I had seen a video that made me cry. Some of you will remember how hard it was to see the vivid memories and the clips of Howard Dean speaking, shaking hands, and shaking up the political world, all while smiling and raising his eyebrows and offering the occasional wink.

There was some of that in this video as well, even a good close-up of a twinkly wink. But it didn't make me cry like before. I will say I definitely got misty-eyed when it hit a bit too close to home, and I saw my eldest son on camera, larger than life, at the Blogger's Breakfast in Iowa...with an inrush of memory of his hopes at that time, his diligent work for and donation to the campaign, and his loss (as well as all of ours) when it floundered there.

Otherwise, though, it was ... well ... description doesn't reveal itself easily. As Thankful said, and will surely expand on later (after mulling it on her long drive home): "something was missing." I'm not quite sure what. It is not a documentary. There are no voice-overs. It is the splicing together of a lot of video clips and TV event sound bites, with a little human interest video (even clips of Heath's children) thrown in. So it's a bit organic, and it's a bit limited, but it also has some merit. Bloggers will want a copy if only to have some video from the Blogger's Breakfast (we saw Nurse Teri!) and a comment by Charlie Grapski.

I'd say it's one observer's collection of those days. Heath goes to a lot of events, from house parties to canvassing to conventions. He sees a few people multiple times, such as a young reporter from Massachusetts (whose comments I found quite interesting) and pundit Tucker Carlson. Carlson is friendly toward Heath, says great things about Dean when not on media camera, then speaks of Dean as angry when on live TV. There is a priceless clip Heath got at the peaceful demonstration during the Republican convention, when a plain-clothes police officer runs his motorcycle into a crowd, seemingly to incite a riot, then calls the police to come break up the riot with force. There are comments from average Americans and celebrities alike, here and there, some simple, some begrudging, some poignant.

Nonetheless, we would probably need videos from a spectrum of participants to get the full picture. In some ways we each have that in our memories, from all we have seen and heard. I didn't really need a voiceover to tell what was going on; but as Thankful pointed out, most people probably would. There was less of Dean than I expected ... not comprehensive of his views or policy or happenings. But there were also clips I had never seen, bits of speeches I had never heard. And Heath only lightly brushed up against the reality that what happened in Iowa was engineered by the Kerry and Gephardt camps. He showed more bits which speak to what Harvard professor and commentator David Gergen described well in the movie: that Howard Dean's appeal was at the local, in person mode, during which he really connected with the people and became one with them; but this appeal somehow did not translate the same way in the bits and sound bites (even commercials) in the media at the national level.

I still can't quite put my finger on what's missing, so I hope Thankful has a revelation on the way home. My suggestion is that this movie be shown at Deanfest this summer, that there be a gathering afterwards (perhaps the next day to give folks time to mull it or see it twice) during which the movie is discussed (maybe over a Blogger's Breakfast?). Then maybe some bloggers would offer their personal take on it, on camera, which clips could be added to the end of the movie, allowing a spectrum of reflections to help viewers begin to reflect on that time. Perhaps this would serve to bring the movie full circle...back to the people.

As I said to Heath at the end of the comments time today, the movie is a slice of history. Howard Dean gave articulation to our voices and helped us realise that we have the power. When the campaign crashed, we crashed with it (I heard a murmur of assent when I said that), but it also exposed what was going on in the media and the political sphere, and we will never see it the same again. We will never be the same again.

~ listener

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