The Only Good Democrats

The tides may yet return the crumbs to shore, but for the time being at least, the Clintons are toast. However Clintonism – in other words, Reaganism and neo-conservatism, tailored to assuage the sensibilities of Democratic constituencies -- is alive and well, not just in the Obama campaign but throughout the party. This is why it is big news – in reality, not, of course, in our servile media -- that, at last, somebody has done what the Democrats ought to have done years ago. On Monday, Representative Dennis Kucinich, speaking on the floor of the House, read thirty-five articles of impeachment against George W. Bush!

Needless to say, the unprincipled cowards who comprise the Democratic leadership in the House, the ones who took impeachment “off the table” after the Democratic victories in 2006, will quash Kucinich’s efforts – with the support of the vast majority of their rank-and-file. Nevertheless, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-8), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD-5) and Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (IL-5) merit special contempt. They are Clintonites to the core.

Last January, Kucinich read articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney. Back then, when Rep. Robert Wexler (FL-19) called for Judiciary Committee hearings, as House procedures on impeachment require, only seventeen Democrats heeded his and Kucinich’s appeal: Neil Abercrobmie (HI-1), Tammy Baldwin (WI-2), Michael Capuano (MA-8), Yvette Carke (NY-11), Lacy Clay (MO-1), Steve Cohen (TN-9), Peter DeFazio (OR-4), Keith Ellison (MN-5), Sam Farr (CA-17), Raul Grijalva (AZ-7), Luis Gutierrez (IL-4), Barbara Lee (CA-9), Gwen Moore (WI-4), Jim Moran (VA -8) Mike Thompson (CA-1), Ed Towns (NY-10), and Lynn Woolsey (CA-6).

Will Kucinich and Wexler get support from even that pitifully small number this time around? Or are the Democrats now too focused on “change”? We’ll find out soon enough. But be sure that, whatever happens, yet again, the vast majority of representatives in the so-called Progressive Caucus will reveal their true nature. So will the go-along-to-get-along chair of the Judiciary Committee, the on-again, off-again impeachment advocate and impeder, John Conyers. How pathetic is that!

Since their constituencies handed power back to them in 2006, the Democrats in the House and Senate have performed disgracefully. Now that Obama has taken over at the helm, expect exactly nothing to change.