What Will Dennis Do?

Dennis Kucinich has had quite a week. He kicked off a storm of reaction last Monday when he announced he would be willing to be the deciding vote that kills the health-care bill — and most likely not only ends all discussion of health-care reform for generations but also damages the Democratic Party in the November elections, probably severely hampering any progressive legislation from here on in. Many lined up to praise him as the only good, honest and decent soul in Congress for refusing to settle for less than a perfect health-care bill, while others condemned him as the devil himself for putting his ego in the way of a bill that would benefit millions.

Yesterday President Obama spoke in Strongsville, and Dennis Kucinich flew out to Cleveland with him. If Kucinich’s goal in all this was to garner attention and be catered to, he certainly succeeded. His office was claiming earlier today he’s still a solid “no” vote. But is he? Who the heck knows? If he does in fact vote no, I think you’ll see a line of ambitious young Democrats (of which his district has plenty) stepping up to challenge him for his seat in 2012 — and this time, they’ll have the ammo to get the job done. But if he turns around and votes yes without significant concessions he probably doesn’t have the clout to extract, the purity progressives who have been so vocal in his defense this past week, calling him the last defense against a health-care bill they depict as just about the worst piece of legislation in history, will be in a quandry.

Today (Tuesday), supporters of health-care reform will be having a demonstration at Kucinich’s Cleveland office at 14400 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood at 4:30, to urge him to vote FOR the bill. I expect he’ll continue to play it close to the vest until the very end, basking in the attention his intransigence is bringing him.

Here’s a link to the Facebook page “100,000 Clevelanders Urge Dennis, Vote for Pres. Obama’s Health Care Bill.”

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=dennis+kucinich+100%2C000+clevelanders...

This page was launched by staunch progressive activists who just want to see some advances on the health-care front, even if we don’t get the single-payer system so many of us believe is the best choice.