Can Dennis Kucinich Transcend the Dem Party and Primary Obama? We Need Him and He Needs Us!

(531 Obama-dumping days until 2012 election-Hugh's Obama's Scandals List)

Kucinich is one of the VERY few in the belly of the beast -- that horror chamber of mostly profoundly pimped out and betraying representatives -- who is still asserting truth to power.

Can Americans of conscience stand behind him seriously enough to create a ground swell for the 2012 Presidency? Can Kucinich transcend a political party that has so profoundly sold out the welfare of millions of struggling citizens?

Kucinich is saying what seems like the obvious to anyone with a heart and conscience -- okay, a pulse -- but the sociopathic kleptocrats and war criminals are behind the controls of our government enabled by a pimped out, propagandizing media. Kucinich is so “uncool” for the media I relish the opportunity to stand behind him in defiance of them alone. I think it is high time substance shot down style in America!

The election is in 2012. We need to get serious. We need to organize to primary Obama from the left. Why not let Kucinich be the guy? Air Force One sell-out with Obama was painful, yes. Kucinich ain’t perfect and still has some ‘splaining to us, but maybe Kucinich is a stronger but wiser man? One more victim of Obama razzle-dazzlement at a critical time. The 3 P’s of perfectionism have gripped those on the left, “perfectionism, procrastination, paralysis.”

Why not at the very least explore a relationship with Kucinich? Entertain the possibility of a contest from Kucinich? We need to stop whining and rally.

Maybe the “circular firing squad” progressives should uncircle the circle and get serious. I know I have been overly-precious and unforgiving in my own evaluations too often and have been on the damp end of the over-preciousness of others under the rickety progressive umbrella at times. I am inviting such disdain once again now as I write this.

This is what Kucinich spells out in The Nation about the DANGEROUS language in the latest reauthorization bill for the Department of Defense. Take in the horror and the urgency of what we are dealing with:

The Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) declares that the United States is in an armed conflict with not only al Qaeda and the Taliban, but “associated forces” and individuals, organizations and nations that support such forces. The President could then have the full legal authority to send American troops to engage in acts of war anywhere--Yemen, Somalia, Iran, even the United States--without constitutionally required Congressional authorization and, consequently, without any restrictions or oversight from the American people or Congress.

This bill would also make permanent the degradation of law and human rights which has become Guantanamo. It imposes bans on the transfer of any detainee held at Guantanamo, including those who have been cleared of any charges. This means that the United States would be forced to keep imprisoning men who are known to be innocent or are not a threat. This bill not only allows the imprisonment of innocent people, but could mandate it.

The bill also prevents the use of Article III federal courts for the trial of most terrorism suspects. This circumvents our system of justice and our protections under the Constitution, showing a lack of faith in US law enforcement and courts which are the constitutional venues for stopping terrorism. Our federal courts have a long history of trying terrorist suspects, while military courts are untested, lacking in legitimacy and of questionable effectiveness. Since 9/11, federal courts have prosecuted over 400 terrorism-related cases, while military courts have convicted only six.

It’s as if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan never happened. These wars cost thousands of lives of our men and women in uniform, and perhaps a million civilian lives, with long-term costs approaching $5 trillion. Yet, in light of the attempt to try to make permanent an authorization for war, it is as if the consequences of the wars we are in have not occurred. It’s as if our “humanitarian” military intervention in Libya, which has helped create full blown civil war and which has ensnared us in yet another military stalemate in the region, never happened. It is as if centuries of evidence of the ramifications of the military overreach of empires never happened. It’s as if the Constitution, which requires Congress to have a say in when and where we go to war and which guarantees U.S. citizens the right to a fair and speedy trial, was never written.

Congress must protect the American people from the over-reach of any Chief Executive who is enamored with unilateralism, pre-emption, first strike and the power to prosecute war without Constitutional or statutory proscriptions.

Permanent, global war is not the answer. It will not increase our national security. Far from ridding the world of terrorism, it will become a terrorist recruitment program.

By the way, this is what David Swanson declares about the bill Kucinich is challenging and recommends each one of us get on the phone and declare our horror and anger about it:

The "Defense Authorization" bill now before Congress, HR 1540, is arguably the worst bill ever considered likely to pass into law. It includes $118 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, wars a majority of Americans wants ended. But that's not why it's the worst bill ever.

This bill also includes $553 billion for other military waste.  That's enough money to save and improve a lot of lives if it weren't being dumped into the war machine.  But that's not why this is the worst bill ever.

[snip]

This is the worst bill ever because it gives presidents the power to single-handedly launch wars and to lock people up without trial.

This legislation, Section 1034 of the worst bill ever, undoes the limitations on one-man rule put in place by the U.S. Constitution over two centuries ago.  This is the biggest formal shift of power in our government since we've had a government.

We have military operations now in some 75 countries, and a significant war in Libya, all illegal under the U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Act.  But the worst bill ever will erase the War Powers Act, and the Constitution will simply be ignored.

Meanwhile the significant withdrawal that President Obama promised to begin in Afghanistan has been scaled back to a withdrawal of 2.5 percent of U.S. forces

Call Congress today and tell your Representative and your two Senators:

[snip]

Call toll-free 1-888-231-9276.

As for Kucinich’s present formidable political situation, the following was posted by TomCat on Politics Plus:

Ohio, of all states, should hate Republican rule, because the Republican Recession trashed Ohio’s economy so badly that workers fled the state, and they are losing two congressional districts.  To make matters even worse, enough left wing voters foolishly stayed home, that Republicans are firmly in control of the state.  And since Dennis Kucinich is such a perennial pain the elephant’s arse, they are neatly gerrymandering his seat out of existence.  Now, I may not always agree with Dennis, but nonetheless, his voice is far too valuable to lose, so I say, “Go West, Young Kucinich.”  OK, you got me.  He isn’t all that young.

[snip]

Mr. Kucinich is indeed thinking about running, but it would not be another try for president and maybe not even an eighth House race back in Ohio. Instead, the 64-year-old Mr. Kucinich, who first gained fame as the “boy mayor” of Cleveland in the 1970s, is delicately examining the idea of running for Congress here in Washington State next year. Given Ohio’s loss of two House seats, his district is likely to disappear when new map lines are drawn.

But Washington is gaining a seat, and Mr. Kucinich figures his aggressive brand of antiwar, pro-working class politics could sell well in a solidly blue state where he has ideological allies and was popular in his White House bids in 2004 and 2008. It is a somewhat novel idea that could be summed up as: Have seniority, will travel…

WHY NOT RALLY BEHIND DENNIS FOR THE PRESIDENCY AS LONG AS HE MAY BE MAKING A MOVE?

Time to settle on a flesh and blood human being who has a conscience.

Obama tried to neuter Kucinich long ago. I would love to see Kucinich, leader of Americans with conscience, make Obama squirm for a change. Mr. Style being defeated by Mr. Substance. That would be a refreshing personal perk. Having a President who honors the Constitution and has empathy and solutions for the citizenry, the bottom 95% of the population, that is the main goal.

[cross-posted on correntewire]