Dean: Blacks "Annoyed" With Democrats

I mentioned here last week, in "Are Dems Losing a Loyal Constituency?" that many African-Americans, including Al Sharpton, are pretty upset that Howard Dean, for all his "inclusiveness" chatter, hasn't made good on his promises to put blacks in positions of authority at the DNC. Sharpton's comments indicated his unhappiness with the lack of return blacks were getting for their support of Democrats--including his opinion that Republicans are running more blacks for office than the Democrats and that Dean has left blacks out of the highest echelons of the Democrat party.

Apparently in an attempt to deflect criticism from himself, Dean announced today that the fault really lies with the party as a whole..."African-Americans are annoyed with the Democratic Party because we ask them for their votes four weeks before the election instead of being in the community now and that's a mistake I'm trying to fix," he said.

Really? Is this the same Howard Dean who wants "to be the candidate for the guys with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks"? The same one who said the Republican party could attract more blacks by summoning "the hotel staff"? The best way Howard Dean could take the lead in healing the growing rift between Democrats and African-Americans would be to step down.