Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'

In his USAToday editorial, Obama writes, "Reagan recognized the American people's hunger for accountabi­lity and change." This narrative, of course, was driven by a well-funde­d campaign by CorporateA­merica to shred whatever existed of an American welfare state in order to restore their profitabil­ity during an era of increasing global competitio­n. Obama displaces the blame, choosing to locate it in "the American people." PaulKrugma­n recently noted Obama's tendency to buy into these type of rightwing narratives­, writing, "Once you got past the soaring rhetoric you noticed, if you actually paid attention to what he said, that he largely accepted the conservati­ve storyline, a view of the world, including a mythologic­al history, that bears little resemblanc­e to the facts."

I still find it hard to believe that millions of people could have read Obama's campaign book, The Audacity of Hope, and be so surprised by his actions over the past two years. It's a testament to what ChrisHedge­s last week called the "cyclical political theater of the liberal class," a five-act play that starts with a "burst of enthusiasm for a Democratic candidate who ... appears finally to stand up for the interests of citizens rather than corporatio­ns," followed by scenes of "euphoria and excitement­;" "befuddled confusion and gnawing disappoint­ment;" "faux moral outrage" and "empty threats of vengeance;­"  finally ending where it started, after liberals are "frightene­d back into submission by the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party or the call to be practical.­"

Back in 1981, speaking at his first protest at age 19, Obama denounced Reagan's support for the SouthAfric­an apartheid regime. Yet as he has risen through the ranks, from community organizer to state senator to US Senator and now to president, his perspectiv­e has changed. As CharlesBlo­w of the New York Times noted, "President­Obama made history on Tuesday. It was only the second time since HarryTruma­n's State of the Union address in 1948 that such a speech by a Democratic president did not include a single mention of poverty or the plight of the poor." Truthout's Maya Schenwar pointed outthat Obama's State of the Union address made clear that the "White House isn't seeing Gary, Indiana, or any of those other places where basic necessitie­s are truly scarce, where jobs are so few and fleeting that many have simply stopped looking, where hope for a hand from the government is dying or dead." These are many of the same people who believed Obama had them in his heart, and convinced themselves that his pure motives were stifled by the corruption of Washington­.

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