I got an anonymous request from my contact page asking for my thoughts on Dennis Kucinich. I do really read those messages, you know. Since many folk I know are fans of Congressperson Kucinich, I've devoted quite a bit of thought to this. I did a Dean vs. Kucinich head-to-head a while ago, but there's always room for more explication. So here's my take.

Dennis Kucinich seems to be a good man. He's got a record to be proud of as a representative from Ohio. He certainly has a vision for the world which is positive. I'm glad he's making a go of it to push that vision to the fore.

That being said I cannot support him as a candidate for president, for a number of reasons. First and formost because he cannot win. This is political reality. I am a Nader voter, and Nader -- though he could not win -- had an achievable goal: to reach 5% and guarantee future matching funds for the Green party. Moreover, while Kucinich's has a vision for an America of the future, the presidency does not come with a magic wand. Even if he were to do the impossible and reach the white house, much of what Kucinich proposes would be futile givin the checks and balances on the office.

Engaging as a participant in the political process means giving time and energy to support one candidate, and by definition to not give the same amount to time, energy and funds to another. As such, for me as an individual, Kucinich's campaign represents a black hole for political energy. That which goes into it will not emerge again, is wasted.

Finally, to be honest, there are a lot of things I don't like about Dennis Kucinich. I don't like his history of using racial fear to win elections in Cleveland. I don't like his bitterness. People have been pushing the "Mean Dean" meme for a while, but looking at the debates, Dennis is the one who comes of as the most sour and angry. Not at the president either, but at the other candidates, at America in general. His candidacy reminds me of all the negatives of Nader's campaign, and few of the positives.

Furthermore, the "movement" that his campaign engenders is to my eyes frankly un-progressive. It is backed by the activist establishment, what Heidegger called "left-wing fascism," a collection of mostly well-intentioned people who take a seriest of mostly dissident positions. Kucinich also has the most obvious retro 60s throwback appeal, something that lands close to home for me but which ultimately I must reject. There is no going back. Manufacturing jobs are not coming back to America. Globalization cannot be undone. If we are to have a positive and prosperous future for ourselves and the world, it is going to be something new, something that embraces the chancing economic and politcal realities we now live in.

In the end, my basic pro-Dean impulse -- that he's a fact-based candidate -- is what drives me away from Kucinich. His positions seem to be dreams and only dreams; and while we need ideals and big thinking and bold visions for the future, pure dreaming is not the stuff of progressive policy. If politics is where the rubber meets the road, where real things happen in real people's real lives, Kucinich is attempting to drive a car with no tires.