I've watched Dennis Kucinich's career for a long time, since interning for his 1988 primary campaign for Congress.
I was pretty hard on Dennis when he announced he would vote against HCR last week. I don't know if Dennis wanted to get a deal by making his opposition loud this late, but I doubt it. That's not how Dennis works.
Dennis would not be announcing tomorrow that he will vote for HCR if he didn't think it was a good first step toward his own goals. I feel comfortable because I know this man pretty well. I learned my very first lessons in politics from Dennis Kucinich, and I still live by them, even as I run for my own seat in county government in Cleveland. If you want to be a principled Democrat, the best way to start is by learning from Dennis Kucinich.
One of my favorite Dennis stories is from that 1988 primary campaign, which he lost to Mary Rose Oakar 75%-25%. We were in the election night party with about half a dozen other people. It was pretty grim and depressing for a kid in college who just put his heart into his first political campaign. Dennis took the podium to concede, very early in the evening, and said, "You know, I'd rather lose by 50 points than by one point." Dennis didn't know it that night, but he gave a young aspiring activist a lot of comfort by taking such a big loss with such good humor.
I think Dennis this week thought of those words he spoke in 1988. Dennis Kucinich does not want to be remembered as the "one point" or "one vote" that gave the rest of us a really, really big loss - politically, and substantively for our country. And don't you worry - I am quite certain that Dennis gave it to President Obama pretty hard on Air Force One yesterday. I would not want to have been Barack Obama in that conversation. Whatever Barack said to Dennis to get his vote, you can bet Dennis will hold him to it.
You can do a lot worse in life than learn from Dennis. I'll remember all the lessons I learned from Dennis Kucinich as I run for my own place in elected office. Thank you Dennis, for making this Clevelander very proud tonight.
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