Dennis Kucinich officially announced his candidacy for Presidency of the United States today in Cleveland, Ohio. The media seems to paint these formal announcements as a bit of a joke. Obviously, Kucinich has been running for months. So, why is he making an official announcement? We have seen him in all the Democratic debates for the party's nomination for the Presidency. So, isn't it obvious that he is already running? Yes, it is, but how many times have you heard Dennis Kucinich's name mentioned on the news. Probably not much. That is why he made an official announcement. And it worked. He has finally gotten some media attention.
Rep. Kucinich has never been a favorite to win the Democratic nomination. According to the polls he has nowhere to go but up. However, he has a strong grassroots following that the New York Times called "almost cultlike". This impassioned support for Kucinich is not an accident. As he said in an interview with Judy Woodruff on CNN, " I'm the only candidate in the race who actually voted against the war in Iraq, the only candidate in the race who actually voted against the Patriot Act, and now I'm the only candidate who has a plan to get out of Iraq." These issues make him very popular to people on the left, especially young people. Here is a guy who doesn't just play the part of a peacenik populist. He lives it. He breathes it. He is so intense in his convictions that you know that he is the genuine article, a politician that genuinely wants things to change in a radical way.
Also, he is the real populist in this race. You hear Gephardt and Edwards talk about humble beginnings, but the New York Times reports that Kucinich's "family lived in 21 places by the time he was 17, including in cars, and literally counted pennies to pay the bills." That makes Gephardt's dad, who was a milkman, sound like Milquetoast, and Edwards, whose dad was a Mill Worker, sound like a crybaby.
It should be noted that his plan for Iraq is to remove all the American troops and to turn power over to the United Nations. The other Democratic candidates, and almost anybody else who you will here talking on the news, say that we can not remove the troops. So, overall his position is not taken seriously. Still, it is important to remember that Gov. Howard Dean was not being taken seriously when he was challenging the President and the Congress for going to Iraq in the first place, and now he is arguably atop the heap for the nomination. If things take a turn for the worse in Iraq, and let's hope they don't, but if they did then Kucinich's position sounds really good to a public that does not want to continue seeing troops coming home in bodybags.
That being said, Kucinich is far too left for the voters of this country. The New York Times reports that he "called for a study into whether reparations should be paid for slavery." Boy Howdy, that will make him real popular down south. He is also a vegan, which will make him a delicious choice for dairy farmers in the northeast. Also, let's face it, he is a short, funny-looking guy that looks more suited to play Willie Loman at the local dinner theater production of 'Death of a Salesman', than he does to be the President. I know that is extremely superficial, but we live in an age of visual media that exports heaping piles of superficiality.
Nevertheless, he is an impassioned voice for the left, and I hope he continues to be the conscience of the left after another one of the nine candidates is chosen to run for President. I hope Kucinich is there to whisper in that candidate's ear so that he(come on, we know it's not going to be Carol Moseley-Braun), will not venture too far to the center.