The Heroics of Dennis J. Kucinich [View All]

The Heroics of Dennis J. Kucinich

by Maryann Mann

He’s short, right? Kinda weird looking? A close friend of mind described Dennis J. Kucinich with rare jocularity following a recent Democratic presidential debate: “He reminded me of a nebbish, privileged student council member”. I actually had to smile at that one.

As witty as my friend’s remark was (and it did make me smile), my grin was born from two very different places: One, a place of remarkable admiration, the other a place of very deep regret.

My admiration for Dennis Kucinich begins with the authenticity of a man who seems possessed of a deft, preternatural ability to resist coercive political pressure and acquiescence to the special-interest briberies which have co-opted Washington D.C. Even David Brooks, conservative columnist for The New York Times, went so far as to stamp the Ohio Congressman as an “aging prodigy”.

Consider five major points:

1.) Dennis Kucinich was right on Iraq. The Congressman stood up to ideological war hawks, refusing to submit to the constitutional calamity of preemptive invasion. 2.) He was right on the Patriot Act. Kucinich lambasted the serpentine piece of legislation which acts as a gateway to eroding our cherished civil liberties. 3.) The Congressman is right on health care. Unlike slipshod “universal coverage” plans proposed by Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama (all of which attempt to incurably fix a broken, private system by virtually mandating that every American buy into it) Kucinich knows first hand that the only morally and economically satisfying version of health care is the one beginning with the words: not-for-profit. 4.) Strength through Peace: The hallmark of the Congressman’s presidential campaign would end using war as an instrument of policy. Haters call him a peacenik devoid of reality. I submit that the intellectually curious might see a president who would embody unparalleled leadership in nuclear non-proliferation and in tackling global warming (mother nature’s WMD) to bridge frayed international alliances, combat climate change and, in effect, revive the plummeting dollar. 5.) Kucinich is right on impeachment. Dennis, as it currently stands – along with 22 courageous signatories – has been the only Congressman brave enough to officially propose articles of impeachment against the dangerously dark Vice President Richard B. Cheney. And on this, he hits the bull’s eye too.

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Impressed? Had no idea? What a story, right? Yeah, I know. This is where the regret behind my grin comes into play.


My regret is in witnessing a media and voting system both configured with such democratic intolerance that it handcuffs the populist magnitude behind a potential Kucinich presidency. “The media do not necessarily tell you what to think, but they do tell you what to think about and how to think about it,” notes communications expert Robert McChesney in his book The Problem of the Media. You’re not allowed to think about candidates like Dennis. And to be sure you don’t debate moderators like the esteemed Tim Russert will ask the Congressman ludicrous, nonsensical questions having to do with: unidentified flying objects.

The trade off is that you’re given “The Horse Race”… a media-hyped framework with a bunch of Hardball “power-rankings” and superficial hoopla drawing lots of ratings and advertising dollars for major corporations like General Electric (which owns Hardball network home NBC Universal), but lacks any sense of fair play or democratic standards when it comes to substantive coverage of candidates or real political diversity.

And yet, despite it all, Kucinich remains.

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