Being a post wherein Dennis Kucinich says no before yes.

I would rather not write this post about Dennis Kucinich, but rather someone like Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin, being in favor of something before being opposed to it. But such are the times and such is the nature of Dennis Kucinich.

Dennis Kucinich - man of many faces - has turned face again, going against his previous pledge to vote against the current health care reform package on the grounds that it wasn't progressive enough. Kucinich's about-face should come as no surprise to Cleveland-area residents, given that Kucinich's arm was likely twisted six ways from Sunday on the plane ride from Washington to C-Hop and given Kucinich's pledge(s) to not run for Pres in 2008 during his 2006 primary campaign against Barbara Farris (sp?) that he almost immediately reneged upon after re-election.

This is not to say that I oppose Kucinich's decision itself, to support HCR, but rather I oppose Kucinich's previous unwillingness to compromise on the matter. I would personally prefer a single payer method, like Kucinich, or something akin to the Swiss model where insurance companies run not-for-profit, like a co-operative financial institution/credit union. (Heck, I'd love it if all institutions were run as not-for-profit organizations, but that's another entry.) However, unlike Kucinich, I am willing to make incremental advances to test the system, to see how well our progress works, and to retool as necessary.

I would not necessarily consider OH-10 to be a safe seat for Dems, firstly because I've become of the mindset that no party should take a constituency for granted and secondly because of the potential effects redistricting may have come 2012. Kucinich simply isn't the right fit for the area anymore, given the suburban nature of the district. If this were the 1970s and 1980s, before industrial flight kicked into high gear, I might be singing a different tune. Cleveland is in need of a strong representative in Congress, a strong leader, and what they have is a demagogue whose greatest personal legislative accomplishment may be the renaming of a post office. Personally, regardless of the outcome of HCR, I am interested to see what challenge - if any - he will face in the 2010 general election from either an independent candidate or Republican.

Oh, and hi.