I just watched Dennis Kucinich tell Lawrence O'Donnell that he is willing to make the perfect the enemy of the good (or merely adequate, but fixable) on health care reform, even if it fails by one vote, and over a year's work goes down in flames. Even if his party, from whom he seemed more or less detached during his interview with Mr. O'Donnell, goes down with him, he is sticking to his guns and will vote NO on health care reform.
He needs to go. I'm sorry. He represents probably the bluest district in the whole state of Ohio, and I believe almost any Democrat you pick ro run this November will prevail by double-digits. Not only do the voters in that district deserve better, they can do better. They need a representative, not a professional protest marcher.
Rep. Kucinich has been in office since 1997. One would think he would chair a committee, even a minor one, with thirteen years of seniority, but no. He's been consistently too busy chasing windmills to focus on his job. He ran for President in 2004, staying in the race long after it was painfully evident that he was not getting the Democratic nomination for President. He repeated this in 2008. If he's still a member of Congress, or even if he isn't, he'll probably treat us to another quixotic quest for a job for which he is woefully ill-prepared and ill-qualified. How many back benchers have been on the back bench for thirteen years?
Now he's at it again, choosing battles he can't possibly win, and this time, he's perfectly willing to take the whole Democratic Party with him on principle. You can't eat principle. You can't drive principle to the supermarket. You can't even take principle to the movies. Uh, maybe Dennis can, but most people would be sitting next to an empty seat.
There is nothing that says the public option can't be retried later, that is, if there are enough Democrats to try it in 2011 or 2013 or whenever. If they can't pass this bill, however, it will be a long time before they can even muster a big enough minority to keep the Republicans from turning the USA into the Fourth Reich. That is, if there is still a Democratic Party by then. Dennis Kucinich doesn't care.
As for single payer, you are simply not going to get single payer through the 112th Congress. You just aren't. All the stubbornness on the part of the Representative from Ohio's 10th District isn't going to change that. It simply isn't possible. Rep. Kucinich is chasing windmills, and you cannot deny it. He needs to be shown the door, voters in Ohio's 10th district. For the love of God, Allah, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or the Force, find somebody else to send to Washington. You deserve better.