Dean’s sharp tongue could hurt him

"We’re going to have a little fun at the president’s expense."

That’s what Howard Dean often says with a smile as he tears into President Bush... Now Dean is having fun again, this time at the expense of his own party.

The latest fun started on Dec. 18. In a speech that day, Dean said, "While Bill Clinton said that the era of big government is over, I believe we must enter a new era for the Democratic Party—not one where we join Republicans and aim simply to limit the damage they inflict on working families." Was Dean belittling Clinton? Dean’s aides said no.
[but duh they didn’t mean it]
But on Dec. 22, Dean was at it again...."even the Democratic Leadership Council, which is sort of the Republican part of the Democratic Party 
 the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. We’re going to need them too."...

He recognizes malice and pettiness only when he’s the target. Last week, he complained that the Democratic primary campaign needed a "character transplant" because his rivals were lying about him. He told the New York Times that their attacks made them "look smaller."

Clinton had a larger view of smallness [Saletan occasionally blasted Clinton but more ofter blasted Republicans]. To him, smallness wasn’t just something to decry in your opponent. It was something to beware of in yourself....

That’s what Dean needs to learn. Being big means rising above the mischievous glee of mocking your adversary. It means not hitting back when you don’t need to. It means focusing on those you can help, not those you can punish. It means representing the whole party and eventually the whole country. If Dean can’t absorb that lesson, his party will indeed need a character transplant. And the character that will have to come out is his.