WHO IS SIMON ROSENBERG AND WHY SHOULD HE HEAD THE DNC?

It looks as if the campaign for leadership of the Democratic National Committee is narrowing to a two-man race: Howard Dean and Simon Rosenberg. We've learned a lot about Howard over the past couple of years, but who is this guy nobody ever heard of who's getting Kerry and Trippi endorsements? Sure, I know him as the founder of the New Democratic Network, but I barely know who they are and what they're all about. Here's Rosenberg's official NDN resume.

Formalized bios aside, just who is Simon Rosenberg and why should he head the DNC? Well, Joe Trippi endorsed him. But Joe's endorsement is cold, all about SR's embrace of technology, no passion there or commitment to core Democratic values. A commenter on Joe's blog says it well:

Rosenberg's NDN organization has spent 10 years stifling dissent, vetting, eliminating and weeding out any and all forms of so-called liberal thought from the Democratic Party. Rosenberg has candidates fill out questionaires and undergo rigorous interviews to make sure that they were acceptable to NDN corporate donors.

It is going to take a hell of a lot more than just putting an iPod in voters hands to reform the party. The party needs to reform its ways and Rosenberg hasn't shown an iota of being receptive to progressive ideas that are not technology based.

All this talk about technology...yet no one has brought up the obvious and the MAIN REASON (IMO) why Dean's campaign failed...techonology is a tool and not a means to an end.

Joe, you forgot the basic rules of a campaign and was blinded by the bat. You forgot that only 13% of the population was politically connected. You forgot to go to Iowa yourself and make the alliances.

Rosenberg maybe a good technician...which I still don't see, but what I do see is that the man has a very "limited" range of Democratic voters he has moved among and the majority of those are NOT from the traditional Democratic base ie African Americans (non-DLC), Labor, Women, Pro-Choice etc. Rosenberg for 10 years has sought out to "create" Democratic candidates in "his own image" that embraces the DLC agenda.

Of course you have the right (as I) to endorse or not endorse anyone you want but at least be honest... Rosenberg is the old DLC wine in a new NDN bottle.

This "manifesto" by Rosenberg, "Where We Are," is both interesting and compelling. I see tremendous value in much of its technical/demographic assessments, yet it strikes me as lacking in principle, passion and populism. Rosenberg, like Trippi, would obviously be an important, even visionary functionary, but I just can't see him in the lead of a movement. A D.C.-insider, he's unmistakably a product of a business marketing education rather than a man of the people. American voters have evidently had enough of smart insiders; they prefer one of their own.

And that's Howard Dean, who's proven his passion, principles, and populism. How often do we have to be told "we don't get it"? Howard gets it. He knows how to connect with ordinary people. He's the first Democratic presidential candidate in I-don't-know-when to actually WANT to pursue a "Southern strategy" of our own. He's real. He's what we need.