Stop being such Nice Guys(tm)!

The Washington Post has an article this morning on the question, yet again, of whether Dean is sparking a positive change in the Democratic party or whether his campaign will be yet another bloodbath of the McGovern/Mondale/Dukakis stripe.

Two things to note about this article:

1. When the reporter (Thomas Edsall) went looking for an assessment of this question, the first person he quotes extensively is an unnamed Republican consultant. Does Mr. Edsall really expect a Republican to give an honest assessment of Gov. Dean's chances?
    
2. Once again the article is chock-full of fretting and worrying by Democratic leaders. I think this public worry-wart behavior has done as much damage to the party's chances as any potential problem that Dean could cause. You don't see Republican's wringing their hands about what might go wrong do you? Of course not! Because they understand that the first key to being perceived as a strong leader is to act like a strong leader.

When are we going to get beyond this self-conscience over-analyzing behavior and actually start acting like leaders who deserve to be elected?