I have to admit, I am intrigued by the decision of Governor Howard Dean to use a weblog to further his campaign for the Presidency, and I applaud him for doing so. I can think of no better way to bring blogging fully into the mainstream, and I hope that we will see more candidates blogging about their campaigns.

I am also quite intrigued by the decision Governor Dean made to guest-blog over at Larry Lessig's weblog. I have no idea what the relationship was/is between Dean and Lessig (the latter was one of my professors for a class I took as a graduate student at the University of Chicago), or how Dean decided to blog at Lessig's site, but I think that this will also further the blogging phenomenon.

I wish, however, that Dean would spend his time writing serious posts, and not posts like this one, which looks for all the world like the kind of thing that a staffer would write for a standard stump speech. I understand the need for candidates to have a stump speech and stick with it, but the attractive nature of blogs are that they get us past the kind of standard pablum that we read and hear from Big Media outlets. Unfortunately, Dean appears determined to treat blogging as yet another forum where we are treated to more of the same in terms of serious thought. There is no originality to his writing, nothing that makes a person take note and say "Aha! There is a candidate with a mind of his own!" What was the purpose for this exercise again?

My thoughts are summarized by the comments of "Factotum," who said the following in the comment section to the post I linked to above:

Increasingly, Dr. Dean, you are sounding like the nicely packaged candidate - “listening” - and repeating your “message” over and over again here and elsewhere. Is this what we are to come to expect from your campaign?

What made your campaign exciting and interesting was that you took a stand on many issues, not just the war - did intellectual property JUST appear on your desk? Haven’t you had at least several months to do more than “listen?” What is your position on labor, not just disjointed remarks - but a policy position people can point to? Give us something as concrete on THESE issues as you do on health insurance policy.

Blogging may seem cool in the press - but blog without substance and I begin to yawn. I feel like you are falling right back into that famililar old political models - even far before you might normally feel the pull (after the primaries.) Ugghh.

Indeed. I'm not going to vote for a candidate based on the blog that candidate might keep. But if a candidate is going to blog, would it be too much to ask that the message be as original and vibrant as the medium? Originality, originality. My kingdom for originality.

(This post can also be found on my blog.)