What Dennis K is and is not

Ok, I know I have said a few things about Dennis Kucinich here. Here I express my opinion because there are people who either think he is a complete loon (which IMHO, he is not), or a saint (which, IMHO he is not.)

What Dennis does is remind people of what the party should be fighting for. As much as I disagree with him on some issues, he does this party a great service by making sure some issues (like single payer) stay in the public eye. Without him, a lot of things that we need to stay focused on would get swept under the rug.

However, as a Congressman, he does not even have to sell his ideas to everyone in Ohio to stay in power. As prominent as he is in Ohio, he does not even have to worry about selling his ideas to the whole state to stay in power, even those staunch GOP Ohioans that made the Taft family the GOP answer to the Kennedys. He does not have to worry about the state outside of Cleveland, unlike it's Democratic Senator, Sherrod Brown (a very solid liberal in his own right.) What does this mean, it means that while Dennis certainly does take courageous stands, he does not have to worry as much about selling the idea, of dealing with those who disagree with him. Many times, Congressman, either right or left, simply wind up becoming preachers to well-tuned choirs. This does not mean that Dennis does not have challenges, but it means that dealing with people who are confused, scared, or just uniformed is not one of them.

The problem is, even though Obama won the election, a lot of those people that got the victory were not just the people like me who really wanted change, they include the desperate, scared "independent" voter who really knew nothing other than that GOP incompetence had finally become so rank that the best sauces Fox could cook could not make them palatable anymore. Of course, the memory of that stink is easily forgotten, and lo and behold, out come the yahoos. Part of the problem Dennis and Obama have is that neither of them understand the raw stupidity and cowardly greed of someones who has their Medicare, yet is so indoctrinated against "da Gubbamint" that they join the teabaggers. Yes, it defies reason, but politicians deal with the most disgusting rubbish there is, human rubbish.

My point is this: I understand why Dennis does what he does, and I respect him. I also realize that Obama has to realize that you cannot play chess with a nation that, frankly, would rather play Texas Hold Em. America wants people who are clever, but who can intimidate, bluff, and take risks, something the DLC is NOT willing or able to do. However, when people question Dennis, it is because he does not have to gamble anything; he can vote against any health care bill he wants to, and he will have his needs taken care of, as the folks in Cleveland will vote him in until the day he dies, and probably have his wife replace him when he does.