In 2004, there was one candidate who was prepared to lead the Democrats to victory. One candidate who had any idea what was going on with American voters and how to work with them to defeat Rove and Bush. One candidate with both the understanding of how politics was changing and the willingness, the eagerness, to be part of that change. But the Democratic field of nominees, who to a person were clueless about the paradigm shift staring them in the face, united to sabotage that candidate and ensure that, yet again, defeat would be wrested from the jaws of victory.

Stand up and take a bow, John Kerry, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich and the rest of you. Oblivious to the incredible changes at work in America, you and the rest of the ilk — the Clark-Clinton cabal and Dick Gephardt — made sure that the only candidate who could defeat Bush was knocked out of the campaign before he could undermine the party's chances at defeat. But helping to screw over Howard Dean, the pack of wannabe-also-rans made sure the national Democratic Party would not be able to prevent an additional four years of misery under Bush-Cheney.

Fortunately, the changes these dinosaurs sought to prevent were too great to be stymied. As I said, this was a paradigm shift, and if you've read your Thomas Kuhn, you know a paradigm shift is nothing something that can be controlled by human beings. Paradigm shifts occur because the world moves relentlessly forward. And in American politics, this shift is the thing we are calling the "progressive movement" — the unstoppable and long-overdue transfer of political power from insiders to grassroots activists.

In other words, "we the people" are finally taking over our country. In 2003 and 2004, the only leader of national standing to truly understand what was going on was Howard Dean. "You've got the power!" At every rally, including during 2004 as he campaigned tirelessly and powerfully for Kerry, he would say those words. "You've got the power!" For Dean, that was not mere rhetoric. It was the basic fact of politics, and he saw it happening. After all, how could the unknown former governor of tiny Vermont become the front-runner in the Democratic primary, raising tens of millions of dollars at an average of less than one-hundred bucks a pop? Dean is a brilliant man, and he knew there was nothing extraordinary about his campaign apart from one little thing: He was articulating the change Americans were beginning to demand. He spoke against the war when it was still relatively popular. He stood up for women's right, for civil rights for all, for universal health care, for many of the issues of vital importance to the majority of Americans — issues the Bush Administration had ground under its hob-nailed boots.

But he did not merely stand up for them, he pointed out the most important element of making political change in America: the people had to be part of that change. I can become President, he would say, but it will do no good if you are not there with me. Alone, I have little power. You have the power! He knew that the insiders, those with institutional power and those with money, those with connections and clout, would continue to decide government's values and actions until the people rose up and forced change to happen. In 2006, under his leadership at the DNC, changes began to occur. The elections of 2006 brought success not because Americans were angry but because angry Americans got involved. The 50-State Strategy was key to that victory, showing that no part of the country was too red for committed citizens to make a difference. The losses by Republicans in deep-red Congressional districts earlier this year shows that the change Dean foresaw over 5 years ago is now unstoppable.

And the great thing is that Barack Obama understands as fully as does Dean what is going on. Obama has kept Dean at the DNC precisely because both men know what is going on: power in America is moving down, to the people, to the roots. It is going to take some more years for the lesson to sink in — Hillary Clinton's loss in the primary was due in large measure to her ignorance of the changes; no one has fought against Dean harder than the Clintons and their election-losing cronies. When Obama defeats all the negativism and sweeps into office in November, he will bring with him a great body of support from across the nation. When Congress or lobbyists seek to block legislation that benefits the people and not the powerful, it will be the people who push the victory forward. This is the change that is happening right now: power in the hands of the American people, transforming politics and transforming government.

In 2004, Democrats failed to recognize what was happening and it cost them. In 2006, Democrats stopped fighting against the change, but most were simply carried along witlessly (hence the refusal of Congressional Democrats to take advantage of their victory to end the war). In 2008, Barack Obama gets what's going on and so do more candidates and office holders. This time, the change will not be fought or misunderstood. The power of the American people will be recognized because we, and not the "leaders" chose the nominee and put him into office.

Go read Thomas Kuhn and understand why there is no turning back and why those who can't get their head around what is happening are going to be left in the dust.