Dennis Kucinich and the Campaign of Hope

Matthew Thuney writes the monthly Whatcom Watch column, Thuney Casserole.

Dennis Kucinich grew up in Cleveland, the oldest of seven children. His father was a truck driver, a proud union man. Times were tough, financially. As the family got bigger, it had to move a lot. So he ended up living in lots of places, sometimes in cars. Lately, he’s been moving to slightly fancier places: like the mayor’s office in Cleveland, and then to Congress.

On Friday, November 7, that congressman came all the way to Bellingham, for an appearance at Western Washington University’s Performing Arts Center.

You see, Dennis J. Kucinich is running for President. You might not have heard about that. But a whole hell of a lot of grassroots supporters and political curiosity seekers have. Western’s PAC was packed; additional rooms monitoring Kucinich’s speech were quickly arranged to handle the overflow crowd.

Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich may not be generating much buzz in the mainstream media, but he sure has a lot of plain old voters excited. They came from Point Roberts, Whidbey Island and Vancouver, B.C. They toted signs reading, “Kucinich for President,” “Thank You for Your Courage” and “Power to the Peaceful.” A large contingent of Veterans for Peace shared the stage with candidate Kucinich.

In fact, to hear him tell it, Dennis Kucinich is all about peace. He opposed the invasion of Iraq just as he opposes America’s subsequent occupation of that country. “Get the U.N. in, and get the U.S. out,” he ardently repeated. Turn the responsibility for Iraqi oil assets over to the United Nations, make the United Nations responsible for all rebuilding contracts (no more sweetheart deals for the Bush Administration and its corporate cronies), and initiate a policy of self-determination for the Iraqi people.”

“War is not inevitable, peace is inevitable,” Kucinich is fond of repeating.

Kucinich sees the Iraq quagmire as symptomatic of the Bush Administration’s focus on fear, negativity and divisiveness. A Kucinich Administration would promote unity rather than division. And this invocation brought the crowd to its feet for one of many standing ovations: “Let us call for the end of fear and the beginning of hope.”

Like his father, Dennis Kucinich is strongly pro-labor. As President, he would cancel America’s allegiance to the North American Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organization. These pro-corporate structures, he argues, act only to prevent true bilateral trade and do absolutely nothing to protect the rights of workers abroad.

Domestically, Kucinich called for a single-payer healthcare system that would provide universal coverage. Lambasting pharmaceutical corporations, he also insisted, “Insurance companies make money by not providing health care.”

Hearkening back to the days of FDR’s New Deal, Kucinich promised a “WPA-type program” to rebuild America’s inner cities.

He urged that new technologies be encouraged and implemented to secure energy independence and restore the manufacturing base of the nation.

How does he propose to pay for these plans? Kucinich would repeal the “Bush tax cuts for the rich,” and deny funding for the Pentagon’s research and development scheme to put weapons platforms in space. The latter is a big, expensive Pentagon scheme (like most, he points out) and diverted to the domestic good, would easily provide funding for much of his domestic program.

Throughout his colloquy, Kucinich continually connected with his audience. He directly and forcefully addressed their current fears and future hopes. He urged them to organize, to act and to dream great dreams. He quoted Yeats, Lennon and the Book of Isaiah.

Not bad for the son of a struggling truck driver.

Finally, Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, pledged, “A presidency that resonates with the idea of community.”

On Friday, November 7, his candidacy resonated with a good chunk of this community. It resonated like crazy.

For more information on the Kucinich campaign, visit the national Web site, http://www.kucinich.us or email the local organization at shoelter@aol.com.