Kucinich Is “The Other Woman”

I was talking with a friend about politics. She said, “I was driving in my car and listening to the Democratic presidential debate on the radio, and you know who had the best answers for every single question? I hate to say this, but...”

And I said, “Dennis Kucinich.”

She said, “Yes!”

I said, “I knew it was going to be Dennis as soon as you said, “I hate to say this, but...”

Remember when you were in high school or middle school or college or even real life – or, for some people, right now – and you were dating a guy or girl and you were pretty serious about the relationship, but you knew in your heart that you really wanted someone else, someone that, for one reason or another, seemed impractical to want, so you kept trying not to think about the someone else and kept going through the motions in your real relationship?

Well, Dennis Kucinich is the political equivalent of that uncomfortable situation.

I keep taking these online presidential preference polls and surveys, and though I really don’t want them to, they always show that my preferred candidate is Kucinich. Overwhelmingly.

But I have never planned to vote for him because, probably like the majority of people who agree with his positions and ideas, I didn’t believe he could win the general election. I keep thinking I want Barak Obama to become the Democratic candidate because I also don’t think Hillary Clinton can win the general election. I think Clinton will be “swift-boated” by the Republicans and stupid people will believe it. Plus I actually like Obama – well, the way I liked that girlfriend I kept staying with when I really wanted someone else, who was unavailable.

But since I’ve come out of the Kucinich closet, a couple of things have occurred to me. First, if I don’t think Clinton can win – and she’s the front runner and the biggest money-raiser – then why not vote in the primary election for someone else I don’t think can win, but whose positions I agree with more?

And second, if I don’t vote for the candidate I want – I, and everyone else who feels the way I do – then that pretty much guarantees he won’t win. And what does that accomplish? Nothing positive.

Third, think about Jimmy Carter. Not the 2007 Jimmy Carter, but the 1976 Jimmy Carter – the almost-totally unknown former Georgia governor, who started out going door-to-door, saying, “Hi, I’m Jimmy Carter and I’m running for President of the United States.” Big joke. Then he started winning primaries. Then he got the Democratic Party’s nomination. And then he was elected President of the United States.

Even though polls show that the majority of people in the country say they’d vote for a Democrat for President in 2008, maybe sexists won’t vote for Clinton and racists won’t vote for Obama. You and I know that those people are ill-informed and hopelessly backward-thinking, but we know that they do exist, even in 2007, and you and I probably are not able to change their thinking.

So then, what if everyone who agrees with Kucinich’s views does vote for him in the primaries? What if he starts winning primaries? What if he gets the Democratic nomination and runs for President? What if he gets his messages out and 51 percent or more of the people like what they hear and vote for him (and that Electoral College thing also works out right, like it sometimes doesn’t)?

If you agree with Kucinich’s positions, why not vote for him in the primary? Why couldn’t Kucinich win? Because he’s weird? Look at every candidate running in either party right now. Which of them is not weird in some way? Look at everyone who has ever been elected President since, say, John Kennedy. Which ones weren’t weird in some way? None. They have all been weird in some way (except, possibly, Gerald Ford – but he was never elected as either Vice President or President).

People say Kucinich is weird because he doesn’t eat meat. Apparently, that’s worse than lying, war-mongering, torturing, wiretapping, trampling the constitution... well, the list is so long...

People say Kucinich is weird because he said he saw something in the sky that he couldn’t identify. He didn’t say he knew or thought it was anything in particular, just that he saw something he couldn’t identify. Who hasn’t ever seen something they couldn’t identify? In fact, in the town of Graham, Washington, where Kucinich saw whatever he saw, other residents – including the town’s fire chief – have also seen things they couldn’t identify in the sky.

(When that was a big news story for a day – well, it was a big story on WOIO-TV 19 – anchor Sharon Reed followed the report about it with her own typically deep and thoughtful comment about Kucinich needing to see a doctor, or something along those lines. Boy, it’s a good thing Dennis didn’t appear naked in public, on purpose, for the purpose of the news to do a story on him being naked in public. What would Sharon Reed have said about that? Oh, yeah – probably nothing.)

One website I read said that Kucinich is weird because of three things: (1) he’s a vegetarian, (2) he saw something in the sky and (3) he’s a liberal. Another one said he’s weird because he’s short. All the late-night TV hosts have made lots of jokes about Kucinich – just as they have about every Presidential candidate, including those who have become President.

So I’ve been thinking all this time that I want Obama to get the nomination, and that a vote for Kucinich would really amount to a vote for Clinton, not Obama. And I still believe that’s true – if I’m the only one voting for Kucinich. But if everyone who felt that way decides to vote for Kucinich, maybe he would win. And, if nothing else, even if he doesn’t win, it would still send a strong message to the other candidates.

When I started high school, I began dating a certain girl, even though I was really interested in her friend. I didn’t think the other girl was available. But people kept saying that if the second girl was the one I really wanted to be with, then I was wasting my time with the first girl – and hers – and that I was risking losing my chance to hook up with the second girl. So I took their advice, went out on a limb, and I did get together with the second girl. It worked out well, for a while. We stayed together for four years – as long as a Presidential term. Then we both, well … voted for other people. But we never had to say, “What if...?”

From Cool Cleveland contributor David Budin popcyclesATsbcglobal.net
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