Kucinich plans for presidency
Originally published in West Liberty Index
Kucinich plans for presidency
By: Sandra Green January 06, 2004
Presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich may be slight in stature, but his drive to become the leader of this country appears to be anything but small. Kucinich, 58, the first presidential candidate to make West Liberty a stop in this election year, spoke to approximately 30 people at La Mexicana restaurant in the downtown area on Monday evening, January 5.
As reporters and community members streamed into the restaurant prior to Kucinich's arrival, Hispanic music played and restaurant workers gave out chips and salsa. Marcos Rubenstein, Iowa Latino outreach coordinator for Kucinich's campaign, seemed as comfortable speaking Spanish to La Mexicana Manager Jose Elizondo as he did speaking English to media representatives. He said it is a bit unusual in Iowa for a campaign to have a person in his position to specifically oversee Spanish language literature, a Spanish website and Spanish media. However, for Kucinich, one of nine Democratic hopefuls for that party's nomination, it was a priority.
"He's really trying to reach everyone," Rubenstein said.
And that was quickly demonstrated by Kucinich himself as the U.S. representative from Cleveland, Ohio, and his entourage whirled in for the 50-minute visit. A quick "thanks for coming" and a handshake were the tools Kucinich used to cut his way between tables and booths. After a short introduction in both Spanish and English, he jumped right into a discussion of current world issues. One of his first comments addressed the war in Iraq.
"The money that this country needs to rebuild is going for war," he said. "The overriding issue in this campaign is getting out of Iraq."
Kucinich's military strategy would pull American troops out of Iraq and replace them with United Nation peacekeeping troops. He believes the United States is more susceptible to terrorist attacks now with our troops in Iraq. With the UN involved, he believes the U.S. would be more secure.
"The longer we stay there, the stronger al Qaida becomes," he said. "We're trapping ourselves."
Kucinich's invitation for questions brought forth one on immigration from West Liberty resident Jose Zacarias, which ended with, "If you become president, what would you do?"
Without hesitation, Kucinich gave an answer that included promoting amnesty for immigrants in certain situations. He then put forth a strong sentiment regarding the treatment of foreigners in the United States.
"Immigration now is a system that is really a form of slavery," he said. He went on to reference situations where workers put up with unsafe working conditions because they fear being shipped out of the United States if they complain.
Kucinich said that we have to remember that America has an obligation to provide safe working conditions for all their employees, and that includes immigrants too. The discussion of U.S. workers led him to express his thoughts on the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"NAFTA ended up being a disaster," he said. A bit of laughter erupted when he quoted and agreed with 1996 presidential candidate Ross Perot, who said the agreement would produce "a giant sucking sound." Kucinich said his first act in office as president would be to withdraw from NAFTA and the World Trade Organization and go back to bilateral trade in an effort to help restore manufacturing jobs for U.S. workers.
"It's our obligation that people in this country have work," he said. "Global corporations are throwing people out of work. We have the responsibility to protect jobs. Call it protectionism or whatever. It's either buy American or bye, bye, America."
Kucinich added the leaders of this country need to realize that "we gain more power" by going back to bilateral trade.
"Try electing a president who is not controlled by corporations," he said.
Two other types of protection Kucinich would offer the American people if he became president would be to provide health care and education benefits for everyone.
Kucinich said he is for "a universal single-payer health-care system" that also covers prescription drugs and long-term care. He said if for-profit health care was eliminated and replaced with a not-for-profit system, there would be enough money for everyone to be insured.
"It will take 10 years to implement this plan," he said. "It's going to take awhile to transition."
Kucinich does not appear afraid to go against the status quo. He referred to others who have dared to change directions such as former President Franklin D. Roosevelt did with the creation of the New Deal. He said he is ready for that kind of challenge.
The ideas he would put forth for changes in the educational system and how they would be funded also appear challenging.
Kucinich said 50 percent of the $60 billion needed to fund a universal five-day-a-week child care and preschool system would be taken from Pentagon funding. His plan also looks to pay for college-level education by putting a stop to tax cuts for the wealthy.
"We need to change our approach to education and I, as president, will do it," Kucinich said.
Kucinich, who was off to West Branch and other stops after his time in West Liberty, left the crowd with a reminder about the January 19 Iowa Caucuses: "Caucus for peace, caucus for health care, caucus for Kucinich."
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