2008 Woodie Awards
Meet the 2008 Presidential candidates
Dennis Kucinich (Democrat - Ohio)
PatricPatrick Fergusson
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: World Views
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A Democrat from the 10th district of Ohio, Dennis Kucinich has endured a long and varied political career, including mayor of Cleveland, clerk of the Cleveland municipal court, and consistent loser in many of his early campaigns. In 1996, nearly two decades removed from his mayoral role, Kucinich ran, and won, a seat in the House of Representatives.
The congressman ran for President in 2004, establishing himself as one of the lower tier candidates; little has changed so far in his 2008 presidential campaign. While he remains more or less a household name due to his quirky mannerisms and appearances on television shows such as the Colbert Report, he is currently in dire need of financial momentum if he is to seriously content for the Democratic nomination.
Healthcare: Kucinich supports what he calls a "universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care system." His actual plan is quite vague, but it revolves around diverting the money paid to the huge administrative staffs of various health insurance companies, a number he claims is as high as 350 billion dollars, or 31% of the funds spent on healthcare, and pouring it back into a plan to insure the 47 million Americans who are not currently covered.
Iraq: Kucinich is a strong advocate for troop withdrawal from Iraq, citing his voting record-in which he voted against both initiating and funding the war-as proof of his position. Kucinich believes that what he perceives as American ignorance in dealing with international cultures and sovereignty has lead to the worldwide view that America is a superpower unable to cope with it's own grandeur; a side effect of what Kucinich describes as the "arrogant use of power by the neo-cons." He presses the fact that a peaceful approach to international politics is necessary if America is to regain it's torn image, concluding on his website (those who have watched the Spider-Man movies might find this quote suspiciously familiar) that, "with great power comes a great responsibility."
The congressman ran for President in 2004, establishing himself as one of the lower tier candidates; little has changed so far in his 2008 presidential campaign. While he remains more or less a household name due to his quirky mannerisms and appearances on television shows such as the Colbert Report, he is currently in dire need of financial momentum if he is to seriously content for the Democratic nomination.
Healthcare: Kucinich supports what he calls a "universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care system." His actual plan is quite vague, but it revolves around diverting the money paid to the huge administrative staffs of various health insurance companies, a number he claims is as high as 350 billion dollars, or 31% of the funds spent on healthcare, and pouring it back into a plan to insure the 47 million Americans who are not currently covered.
Iraq: Kucinich is a strong advocate for troop withdrawal from Iraq, citing his voting record-in which he voted against both initiating and funding the war-as proof of his position. Kucinich believes that what he perceives as American ignorance in dealing with international cultures and sovereignty has lead to the worldwide view that America is a superpower unable to cope with it's own grandeur; a side effect of what Kucinich describes as the "arrogant use of power by the neo-cons." He presses the fact that a peaceful approach to international politics is necessary if America is to regain it's torn image, concluding on his website (those who have watched the Spider-Man movies might find this quote suspiciously familiar) that, "with great power comes a great responsibility."
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