Three-wheelin’
Underdog Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich’s uphill fight
By Andre Coleman 06/28/2007
Somewhere on the way to a speaking engagement Sunday in Altadena, the car carrying Ohio Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich blew a tire.
In some ways like the underdog Kucinich campaign — which seems to keep going no matter who enters the race — one would think the driver of the car would have stopped it. But he didn't. It just kept rolling along until arriving at the event on Marigold Street, where the tire was promptly changed by a tow-truck driver.
A campaign on three wheels seems an apt enough metaphor, considering that it takes millions of dollars that Kucinich clearly doesn't have, as well as the backing of the mainstream media, which Kucinich also does not have, to be anointed our next leader.
But none of that seems to deter the 60-year old former mayor of Cleveland from speaking his mind on what's wrong with America and how best to fix it.
Speaking in blistering heat before a standing-room-only backyard crowd of more than 200, Kucinich touched on the need for universal health care and derided the war in Iraq as well as the Bush administration — three of his favorite topics.
“This war exists as an abject case as to why war is wrong,” Kucinich said to the crowd gathered at the home of Larry Evans. “It's a war that never should have been fought. We need to be aware that throughout history there have been similar circumstances of wars against innocents and wars based on lies. We need to understand that had we pursued diplomacy, America could have been more secure in the post-9/11 world, but by pursuing war we have become less secure. Congress has a responsibility to the American people to keep its word. We elected a Democratic Congress not to get a Democratic version of the war in Iraq, but to get us out of Iraq. The Democrats have to stop funding the war.
“Right now,” he said, “the Democrats need to tell the president we are not going to give you another dime for this war. You have to close the bases, end the occupation, bring our kids home. There is no other way to end the war but that. Take the money away.”
Kucinich is the second Democratic presidential candidate to speak locally. Last month, Illinois Sen. Barak Obama spoke at a home in Pasadena — complete with Secret Service protection — where the cost of getting inside to meet Obama was a minimum contribution of $1,000 to hear him and $2,300 to shake his hand.
For Kucinich, there were no bodyguards or entrance fees, just local residents wearing shorts and tank tops trying to find shade as Kucinich spoke.
“My family never owned a home,” Kucinich said, recalling growing up one of seven kids as he discussed home ownership with his supporters. “Every time the landlord found out how many kids my parents had, they told us we had to move.”
Kucinich currently represents Ohio's 10th Congressional district and serves as the chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
At last count, there were eight people running for the Democratic nomination, and rumors abound that former Vice President Al Gore may soon jump into the race.
While it may be true that Kucinich has virtually no chance of winning his party's nomination, let alone the presidency, he has been credited with forcing other candidates to discuss issues that otherwise might be ignored, such as universal health care and guaranteed quality education from kindergarten to college.
But the biggest problems facing the country, Kucinich told the Pasadena Weekly, are fear, a disconnection from people around the globe and a sense that legitimacy only comes through military force.
“[There is] an unwillingness to use the resources of this country to improve the quality of life for all Americans in relation to housing, education, health care and job creation. There is an addiction to war and an addiction to oil and an unwillingness to see the connection between global warring and global warming. Our security comes not from the barrel of a gun, but from the power of the human heart and connecting with people through compassion, through empathy, to understanding that other people's suffering is their own. Cooperation, not domination, is the path to understanding that human security and peace are one.”
Kucinich wrote in April to his Democratic colleagues in Congress that he would try to initiate impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney for allegedly misleading the country about Iraq's role in the Sept. 11 bombings and weapons capabilities.
During the April 26 Democratic candidates' debate in South Carolina, no other candidate would support Kucinich's plan.
“Cheney has forfeited any right to the trust of the public,” Kucinich told the newspaper. “This is really a question of accountability. It's a question of what standards we have a right to expect of those who hold the highest office. If our standards are low, then the conduct will be low, but if our standards are high, then we can expect that the leader will carry us to places that we want to go. No one is above the law, and Mr. Cheney's presence above the law puts our Constitution in jeopardy. He must be held accountable for the lies that took us into war, for the lies that falsely identified Iraq as having a role with al Qaeda and 9/11 and for the lies that would set us against Iran. He must be held accountable.”
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