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Looking back, refusing to sell Muny Light was probably the right thing for him to do, but at the time it was a great humiliation to the city to go into default. Kucinich set himself up against all the banks and, as a result, made complete enemies out of all business in Cleveland as his way of "standing up for THE PEOPLE against the fatcats." He was constantly railing about "THE PEOPLE" vs. "THE FATCATS" and how he was for "THE PEOPLE," but this is the only stance I can ever recall him taking that was supposedly for "THE PEOPLE" that wasn't just a lot of talk and posturing. The end result was that yes, he saved the light plant, but the city went into default and he barely survived a recall election.
I know a lot of Dems admire him for that today, but as a person old enough to remember when he was actually a mayor, I recall his stubbornness on the subject looking very much like that of the current White House resident on Iraq. He had an opinion, and he was not going to listen to anyone else. He was going to do his thing, no matter what. He would not consider or propose a compromise or any other possible alternatives. He was right, and everyone else was wrong. If he were captain of the Titanic, he'd go down with the ship, claiming that some mega-corporation had put the iceberg in its way, but that didn't matter, because the passengers were going to triumph!
It was impossible for Kucinich to work with business at all. To him, business was the root of all evil, and the art of governing was all about "protecting THE PEOPLE from THE FATCATS." Personally, I don't think that's the kind of person we need leading the country. I don't think business is the root of all evil. I do believe that a lot of evil happens in the name of corporations, and I am all for reining in some of their power and for more of a balance of power between corporations and individuals, but I don't think big business is by definition evil, and I don't want a president who treats it like it is either and sets it at loggerheads with himself in order to present himself as some knight in shining armor to the electorate. Being president requires being able to work with everyone, not just being able to make principled stances for one side against the other.
It seems to me that all the real Kucinich admirers come from outside the Cleveland area, which should tell you something right there. If this guy is so great, why do the city's own lefty "alternative" newspapers dislike him as much as the Plain Dealer? You'd think more people would be asking that question.
Oh, and one more thing: Since when is having a young, beautiful, "hot" wife such an important qualification for the presidency as some people here would have it be from what I have seen posted lately? I would expect DU to be a more feminist place, but instead I see threads about how "gorgeous" Elizabeth Kucinich is and how wonderful a human being she must be to be in love with him and how his worthiness for high office is proved by his ability to snag a wife that young and hot. If this kind of stuff was said about a Republican in Freeperville, everyone would be disgusted.
Put it this way: I'm from northeast Ohio, and frankly, I'd rather have Obama.
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