http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1945-pressure-drop-brave-sir-dennis-ran-away.html
Pressure Drop: Brave Sir Dennis Ran Away
Written by Chris Floyd
Wednesday, 17 March 2010 23:44
(UPDATED BELOW)
Kucinich drops opposition to health-care bill (Washington Post).
Well, so much for conscience. The other day here, we had kind
words for the stand taken by Dennis Kucinich against the
boardroom-backroom boondoggle known as the health care bill. The
main thrust of that post was not meant to be the innate
wonderfulness of St. Dennis but the hypocrisy of the "Fightin'
Progressives," such as Commander Kos and Alex Koppelman, who had
launched a vituperative attack on Kucinich for daring to oppose
the bill -- a measure which not only represents a complete and
craven surrender of even the smallest crumbs of the progressives'
original hopes for health care reform, but was also fatally
tainted by the brazen bribe Obama took from the gorging, gouging
drug and insurance cartels to make sure their destructive sway
over American health care remains unbroken.
Still, I admit I was pleasantly surprised to see Kucinich stand up
against the health care bill, apparently on principle, especially
as he was also sponsoring a bill to end the Afghanistan War at the
same time. (I realize the latter was a wholly symbolic act -- then
again, all acts are symbolic to one degree or another; that is,
they symbolize the moral stance behind the act, whether it is
effective or not. Thus, "savvy" compromises on, say,
appropriations for the Terror War or detainee policy or illegal
surveillance symbolize an underlying acceptance of atrocity,
tyranny and war crime.)
But I suspected the fix was in when I saw reports that Kucinich
was flying with Obama for a presidential appearance in Ohio. There
was little or no chance that Kucinich would have been engaged in
such high-profile hitchhiking if he was not already in the bag for
Barack.
And so it proved. Kucinich's cave-in did win him a respectful nod
from the New York Times, which featured his turn-around in a
front-page web story that had none of the usual snide asides about
his "kooky" ideas that normally accompany any mainstream mention
of him. The Washington Post kept the wonted snark, however, noting
in its lede that:
...Kucinich, often a proponent of very liberal, unlikely
ideas such as the creation of a "Department of Peace" and the
impeachment of then-Vice President Cheney, has found his pragmatic
streak.
Impeaching Dick Cheney! Gawd, what a loon, eh? And peace? We don't
need no stinkin' peace.
Anyway, in the end, Dennis proved to be no menace at all to the
Boondoggle Express. He got on board offering the same lame
justification for junking his principles that a plethora of
progressives have served up: the idea that passing the current HCR
(High Corporate Returns) bill is somehow a step forward toward
real reform somewhere down the road someday. The usual line is
something like, "If we don't pass this horrible bill, we won't get
another shot at real health care reform for 20 years." Or as
Kucinich himself put it (somewhat inelegantly): "This is a
defining moment for if we will have any opportunity to move off
square one on health care."
This seems to me to be the exact opposite of the truth. In
reality, if this horrible bill passes, we will be stuck with it
for 20 years, because no Democratic politician -- "progressive,"
"pragmatist," or otherwise -- will want to go near the issue
again. You can already hear the "savvy" counsel party bigwigs
will dispense if anyone tries to "move off square one" on health
care in the foreseeable future: "For God's sake, don't rake all
that up again! Don't you remember the hell we went through getting
that damn thing passed in 2010? You want to give the Republicans
another club to beat us over the head with? We've done 'reform.'
Leave it alone."
However, if this bill (which almost every "progressive" has
declared is a misbegotten, corruption-ridden, botulistic glop of
indigestible legislative sausage -- even as they threaten to wage
holy war against anyone who votes against it) is defeated, then
the ground will be cleared for genuine reform. A real leader could
then say: "OK, we tried it your way. We brought in the
corporations. We courted the Republicans shamelessly. We gave away
the game on day one, took all our cards off the table, compromised
every value we profess to hold. We backed down, we turned tail, we
sold out. And it didn't work. Now, we're going to do it for real.
Single-payer, universal: that's where we start, and by God, that's
where we finish, or somewhere damn near to it. And if you don't
like it -- well, let us refer you to the famous words uttered by
Dick Cheney to Patrick Leahy on the floor of the Senate on that
historic day in 2004."
If the bad bill is defeated, you can bring up a good bill in every
Congressional session -- yes, for the next 20 years, if need be.
Hell, you can bring it up every week. And if you beat the drums
for genuine health care reform with even one-tenth of the strength
and fervor that the Obama team lavishes on demonizing Iran,
protecting torturers and enriching the criminal rich, then you
wouldn't need 20 years -- or 20 weeks -- or 20 days -- to get it
passed.
That's what a real leader could do. But of course, there is not
even the shadow of a semblance of a real leader within 500 miles
of the festering core of the Potomac Empire.
UPDATE: John Caruso has more on Kucinich, "the origami congressman
_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
