When the going gets tough, the tough cave

WHAT A difference a few months make when you're the leading progressive Democrat in Congress.

Last November, Rep. Dennis Kucinich was voting against the House version of health care "reform" legislation because of its weak provisions for a "public option"--itself a half-measure compared to the single-payer alternative that Kucinich claims to support.

But last week, the Ohio representative flip-flopped and announced he would vote in favor of an even worse health care proposal--a bill that leaders of Physicians for a National Health Program called the "false promise of reform" and "aspirin dispensed for the treatment of cancer."

Not only that, but Kucinich encouraged fellow holdouts to follow his lead:

The moment I made my decision, I knew I would be helpful with other members who have struggled with the contradictions of the bill, with other members who knew how badly flawed the bill is and still wanted to see if there was any way they could justify voting for it. And so I've had many discussions with members throughout the Democratic caucus about the bill.

Kucinich is nearly unique among members of Congress in consistently voicing support for single-payer health care system in which the government covers everyone and private insurers are cut out. He was a co-sponsor of HR 676, the "Medicare for All" bill that was bypassed during the current discussions on health care reform.

So when he decided to make a 360-degree turn on health care reform, he emphasized the historic proportions of his sellout. He told Esquire:

We're at a pivotal moment in American history, and in contrast to a crippled presidency, I have to believe that this effort, however imperfect, will now have a broad positive effect on American society...

All of this went through my mind as I sat in the quiet Capitol rotunda last Tuesday morning. I thought about what could happen if I was willing to show some flexibility, and to compromise for the sake of a broader progress. That was all part of my thinking as I got the point where I stepped to the podium in the Capitol to announce my decision.

And right after I finished what I had to say and left the room, the president called. I understood the importance of the call, and he understood the importance of the decision that I made. There was gravity in the moment. There is a lot at stake here.

I took it all into account--everything that I hoped would happen if this were to pass, everything that I hope will happen. And if those things come to pass because of the small role I may have played in switching the momentum, then my service in Congress has been worth it.

THE OBAMA administration made an effort to turn Kucinich. No doubt the White House figured it needed every last vote to get the measure approved, but there was another purpose as well: The administration wanted to demonstrate that it could corral liberals. Obama invited Kucinich onto Air Force One for a ride to his congressional district in Ohio and a much-publicized heart to heart.

Conservative Democrats, however, got a little more for holding out on the White House. If liberals like Kucinich got a little of the stick, the party's most conservative representatives got the carrot. For example, Michigan abortion opponent Rep. Bart Stupak was coaxed into voting for the bill with the promise of an executive order reaffirming restrictions on federal funding for abortion.

Despite his rhetoric about coming to grips with the "broad positive effect on American society," Kucinich's decision to cave on health care was predictable. That's because a large part of Kucinich's job as a left-leaning Democrat is to be the one who compromises in the end.

Take his campaign in 2004 for the party's presidential nomination, when Kucinich inspired antiwar supporters by running on the basis of uncompromising opposition to the Iraq War. But when the Democratic convention rolled around, Kucinich called on his supporters to vote for pro-war Democrat John Kerry.

When figures like Kucinich make these kinds of compromises, the Democratic Party leadership points to them as examples of what a "large-tent" party the Democrats can be--a party of the "center," where those of the right and left wings can all come together.

But the real lesson here is how the Democratic Party effectively shuts out the left, time and time again.

While Kucinich agreed to come to the "middle" on the health care vote, supporters of industry-approved measures didn't have to go anywhere at all.

With its mandates to force people to buy private insurance without a public option, its lack of any guarantee of affordable premiums and its tax on employer-provided insurance, the law Barack Obama is expected to sign will make health more expensive and less accessible for many workers. Nothing in this proposal challenges health care industry super-profits--in fact, it goes a long way toward increasing them.

KUCINICH EXPLAINED his change of heart in an interview with Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! A week earlier, he declared "[D]on't just tell the people that you're going to call this health care reform when you're giving insurance companies an even more powerful monopoly status in our economy." Now, he had a different message:

I have done everything that I possibly can to try to take a position and stake out ground to say I'm not going to change, but there's a point at which you say, you know, it's my way or the highway. And if the highway shows a roadblock, and you go over a cliff, I don't know what good that does, when you take a detour, and maybe we can still get to the destination, which, for me, remains single payer...

[L]ooking at the bigger picture here, I'm hopeful that in making this decision to switch in favor of voting for the bill, that we can use this opportunity to, down the road, push for the kind of health reform that I am for, that I stand for, that I've worked my life for. But it's not going to happen in this bill. And there's a point at which you just have to maturely look at the situation as it is and say, no matter what I do, it's not going to change this bill.

Kucinich shouldn't be celebrated for his "maturity." If his previous support for single payer as the only realistic solution to the health care crisis is to be believed, then Kucinich knows what a disaster this bill will be for millions of workers.

He can't have it both ways--pretend to stand up for principles and cave at the same time. It's one thing for Kucinich to accept the limitations of the backdoor wheeling and dealing of the congressional health care reform bill process. It's another to try and sell it to the rest of us as the reasonable decision.

The vast majority of Congress is made up of millionaires, and the people who do the bidding of millionaires--people who every year receive donations from the insurance and drug companies that can expect to make a killing off the new health care bill. Even if Kucinich doesn't take a dime from the insurance industry parasites, his support for this bill helps them get closer to what they want--our money.

This isn't a compromise. It's a betrayal.