Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean believes Democrats suffered a bad midterm election because they lacked a clear message. “Where the hell is the Democratic party?" he asked on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday. "You've got to stand for something if you want to win."
Dean criticized Washington Democrats for never being able to stay on message, agreeing with Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., who said his party did not do a good job communicating what President Obama has done.
"The Republican message was, 'We're not Obama.' No substance whatsoever," Dean said. But after rhetorically asking himself the message from Democrats, Dean answered sarcastically "Oh, well, we're really not either."
Dean, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee who created the "50 State Strategy" for the party after its defeat in 2004, said Democrats can pick up the pieces again. However, he told moderator Chuck Todd “You cannot win if you are afraid!”
Dean, a former presidential candidate himself, insisted that he is not running and will support Hillary Clinton in two years. Dean said Democrats have to put money into the state parties order to rebuild the organization that made President Obama’s campaigns so successful.
"You've got to strengthen the state parties. It requires discipline, accountability, but it also requires money to go to the state parties and we have to trust the state parties," Dean explained.
Dean said his party will rebound if they raise and stand for economic "lunch-bucket issues" and expanding opportunity. He added Democrats should be debating a Supreme Court that has "deviated from the Constitution on numerous occasions." Dean added "I still have yet to find where the Constitution says a corporation is a person."