On Health Care, Dean Gives Obama a Pain

Passed over for administration post, ex-doc plagues prez

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 24, 2009 1:58 PM CDT

(Newser) – By now, President Obama may wish he’d brought Howard Dean into the administration, because the former doctor has become his top left-wing antagonist on health care reform, the Hill reports. Dean has spent the summer advancing his views on the topic, and though the White House is backing away from the public option, he isn’t. “You can’t really do health reform without it,” he said today.

“It might have been a blessing in disguise that Howard Dean was not brought into the admin,” says one progressive activist, “because it has allowed him to be the bully pulpit” for progressives. Analysts note that Dean’s opposition has raised his own profile. “In a sense Dean becomes an antagonist of the president,” said one political scientist. “This is not a blogger somewhere.”

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (2)]

Howard Dean signs books at Netroots Nation, a gathering of self described progressive bloggers and online activists in Pittsburgh, Friday, Aug. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

In this Jan. 30, 2008 file photo, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean testifies before the legislature in Montpelier, Vt. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008, to discuss Tuesday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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It was a mistake not to have brought Dean in; he’s a doctor, he’s smart, he’s a good organizer, he might have been able to be an effective insider. - Al Felzenberg, presidential scholar at the University of Pennsylvania

He has been looking for a niche for himself. He’s not a man who, having once enjoyed public acclaim, is willing to give it up very easily. - Ross K. Baker, professor of political science at Rutgers University

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On Health Care, Dean Gives Obama a Pain