The Movement
I've been asked a couple of times now why I still have my Dean placard on my window and my Dean sticker on my car, now that he has withdrawn from the race.
As I, and so many others, have expounded upon before, our involvement and passion for this campaign goes beyond the man himself. He was simply the focal point of an ideal, a vision, and a movement. That movement is far greater than one man, and far too resilient for one defeat to kill it.
That's why I keep those signs up: I continue to be involved with the movement.
In politics, as in life, there come times when compromise is a necessity. This is one of those times. For all the Dean supporters who got on board only because of the man, please consider your commitment to the greater movement. Continue your involvement, and remember that, whatever your reason for supporting Howard Dean, we still have an election to win this November. Don't turn your back on the movement now. We are going to have to compromise in the short term, but only your continued commitment is going to bring real change. It'll just require more patience than we had hoped.