Glenn Greenwald says everything that needs to be said about the near universal reaction to the defeat of Dennis Kucinich. It's dispiriting, to say the least, that such a stalwart liberal losing his office is celebrated with even more gusto than the defeat of your average Blue Dog, but there it is.
I realize that Kucinich was an odd duck and that he probably "asked for it" by supporting the gerrymander along with a hundred other bad political decisions. Nobody ever said he was a master strategist. What he was, was the guy who occupied the most leftward space in our political system along with just a small handful of others like Barbara Lee and Bernie Sanders --- and that's important. It's not like they grow on trees.
...
I support anyone who has the backbone to stand up for the right things but it does no good if that person is not taken seriously. Kucinich's "odd duck" persona prevented a lot of people on his own side from taking him seriously, even though they shared principles. Comparing him to Bernie Sanders and Barbara Lee isn't fair to Sanders or Lee who are taken seriously by their side. I don't give a shit what conservatives say about them because they'd never vote for Sanders or Lee but when they speak, progressives listen. When Kucinich spoke, the most common reaction was "what did he pull out of his ass now?"
I hope he does well in the private sector and hopefully will be able to push the progressive message a little better, but I'm not sad he's out of the Congress. An elected representative who says crazy shit more times than not is not what's needed at this time. I'm sure the people of his former district would like a representative whose voice is considered in the debate as opposed to being mostly dismissed and ignored. He might be a hero to us raging Lefties, but his constituents decided that they'd rather someone more effective than wacky.
No comments:
Post a Comment