Kucinich Falls Behind In ‘Corrupt System’
ZAID JILANI
When the time came for the Nation magazine, the country's top liberal rag, to give a presidential endorsement, they responded decisively … "In his stands on the issues, Dennis Kucinich comes closest to embodying the ideals of this magazine. A vote for him would be a principled one."

That's unsurprising. Kucinich is the only one running who, not only voted against the war, but voted against funding it 100 percent of the time. He has a 100 percent pro-labor, pro-gay rights, pro-environment, pro-fair trade voting record. No candidate wins more blind-polls based on positions; no other candidate is proposing creating a European-style single-payer universal healthcare system - which 65 percent of Americans want.

Yet the Nation went on to write, "But for reasons that have to do with the corrupting influence of money and media on national elections," they cannot endorse Kucinich. The Nation's concerns are valid. Kucinich received almost no press coverage from the corporate-run media which, according to a recent study, spent only 6 percent of this election's coverage actually talking about the issues and only 1 percent on candidates' records. In debates, he already was never allowed to even speak. Since he has never taken corporate donations - he grew up homeless, watching his parents count coins to make ends meet and has vowed never to be bought off by wealthy interests - he has been unable to raise the money necessary to run a large campaign. Still, he raised millions of dollars from the grassroots and recruited thousands of volunteers.

Yet he can't compete with Sen. Barack Obama, who put $9 million dollars into Iowa and received constant media attention. Don't get me wrong - I am as wowed by Obama's speeches as anyone else, and I find him to be a brilliant young Senator. Yet his presidential run is uninspiring. He triumphs "change," yet his campaign takes more money from the insurance industry than any other candidate except Sen. Hillary Clinton. His health care plan is crafted with that in mind - it gives billions of taxpayer dollars to the HMOs and leaves millions of people uninsured to keep alive the for-profit beast. While reminding us that he gave a speech calling the Iraq war "stupid" in 2002, he went silent on the issue when he reached the Senate, constantly voting to fund it and against withdrawal. When ultra-hawk Joe Lieberman was facing an antiwar challenger, Obama appeared at his side, calling Lieberman his "mentor."

At a recent debate, he wouldn't promise to end the Iraq occupation by 2013. His policy team is a Wall Street wet-dream: Lehman Brothers financiers, Citigroup, defense contractors, insurance lobbyists. Edwards and Clinton have assembled similar policy teams packed full of corporate insiders and entrenched military-industrial interests. They talk about change, but they represent Bushism without Bush. They represent the corporate wing of the Democratic Party, whose President Clinton passed the horrific NAFTA and "welfare reform," and whose embargo against Iraq murdered more than 500,000 children.

Some people wonder why Kucinich chooses to run in such a corrupt system. When I met him, I finally understood. In his mind, he's still just Dennis from west Cleveland, working three jobs to pull his family out of poverty. And he sees us - this country, the world - as his family. And maybe one day, we'll live in a truly democratic country, where someone can win on the strength of their ideas, not on their ability to please corporate financiers and media. Until the day comes, I say give 'em hell, Dennis. You have my vote.

** Zaid Jilani is a sophomore from Kennesaw majoring in international affairs.
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