As I was perusing Joe Klein's book, Politics Lost the other night, a particular passage jumped out at me.

"(T)he crowds were huge -- but the message seemed to be: "Hey, isn't this a huge crowd? Aren't we great? Aren't we raising lots of money?" It was the Perot/McCain problem one step removed: the campaign was about...the campaign. Which was understandable in a way: it was a marvelous campaign. ...The enthusiasm, the lack of cynicism, the sense of community, the pure joy of the movement was almost euphoric."

Know which campaign that was? That's right, Howard Dean's campaign.

Know which campaign that describes perfectly today? A mass of airheads, walking around chanting "Yes, we can" while saying wacky, cultish things like, "We are the ones we've been waiting for"?

Right, the Obama campaign.

The difference is that Dean's campaign imploded before it got off the ground while Obama may be able to get over the hump and then implode, when the campaign starts dealing with ideas and concepts more complicated than you'd see on an episode of Barney & Friends.

PS: What the Obama campaign really is? It's Howard Dean 2.0.