Oh, well…

…Howard Dean's Sunday show debut as DNC Chair didn't provide all that much to talk about after all. The Doc was pugnacious enough to satisfy his loyalists, and loose enough, apparently, with some facts and figures to confirm the worst fears of his critics. Mostly, he was the opinionated centrist, with a streak of stubborness, that was Dean the candidate at his best.

Unfortunately, it's not necessarily the best persona for his new role. Too much about Howard, I'm afraid. It's the inevitable residue of his media celebrity last year, but now he needs to divert the focus from himself. That's why he's stayed of the Sunday circuit and in the trenches for the first 100 days of his chairmanship. Frankly, I think we're better off with the media bleating 'Where's Howard?" than 'Look what he said this time!,' but he has to pop up now and then, I suppose. He did about as well as I could hope.

But he has work to do elsewhere, and I won't be disappointed if 100 more days - or more - pass before his next run through the punditocracy's gaunlet.