Almost everyone here thinks that the day when Bush is out of office couldn't come soon enough. Many of us agree that he committed genuine, impeachable crimes. I definitely sympathize on both counts. However, the fact that Dennis Kucinich decided to file articles of impeachment today, two days after our party got our presidential candidate, is pregnant with meaning. And it isn't good. It's not good for us, it's not good for our congressional candidates, and it's very bad for Barack Obama and his campaign for president.
Kucinich and everyone else knows that this is a Quixotic effort. It will simply not pass. But sometimes, tilting at windmills to send a message is exactly the right thing to do. Sadly, this is definitely not one of those times. Put down your pitchforks and think: what will come of this in the end?
Well, it will fail. That's one clear thing. So history will record that our Democratic Congress "stood up" for Bush in thinking him to be no criminal. Of course, it's not Bush's innocence why this motion will fail. It's because we don't want President Cheney, it's because Bush is pretty well in check and about to leave office, it's because pursuing this vigorously would expose our least attractive side, the way the witchhunt of Bill Clinton exposed the worst side of the Republicans. But history will record that the vote thusly: Congress thought that none of the 35 alleged crimes were genuine crimes. (If they did, they'd be obligated to impeach.)
But that legacy thing not the worst of it. If a vote is forced, every representative in a competitive district will either have to hop on the Kucinich train to La Mancha or be on record and vote to keep Bush our president. And of course, Kossacks will get all pissy about it if they choose the latter, and act like they don't need to do grassroots work for somebody like that... when in fact, voting to smack down Kucinich's motion quickly is the best damage control option we have. The reps who join are doing the best thing available for our party. It's just that they should have never been put in this position.
But the worst thing about this move is that it's a giant FUCK YOU to our presidential candidate. As of Saturday, our party has a new leader. His hard work of uniting out party has begun, and he's done well. So two days later, who is sewing seeds of discord? McCain? Bill and Hillary? No, the latter are finally acting like Democrats. The culprit is Dennis Kucinich. Normally, when he flies off the handle, we can laugh it off. But he's learned. So he picked the perfect moment to force all the cameras to turn on him. Why will this achieve destructive perfection? Three reasons. One, the media thought they have to stop writing their favorite story, the story of Democratic infighting. They know that story so well that they hardly need to think while typing. They love that story. And Hillary's words on Saturday took it from them... but only for two days, thanks to Kucinich. Thus they will report prominently on this doomed gesture by a member of our fringe, because they've got to have their circular firing squad joke.
Second, all eyes are on Obama to see how he handles his responsibility as a leader of a cat-like party. Can he inspire Democrats to march in line? The world is watching right now. And just as all eyes are on Obama, Kucinich pulls this stunt that he knows Obama can't sign on to. I'm confident that Obama can, with the help of other Dem leaders, overwhelmingly shut this down. But then the media narrative will be: Obama wants Bush to stay on! Obama can't control his party! The Democrats are split again! Kossacks already have the noose ready, Obama says no! Kucinich steals Obama's spotlight, makes him look like a pussy! Let's hope it's only Kucinich. Anyone else who signs on to this will further feed the inevitable "Obama Can't Control Democrat Lynch Mob" headlines. And you know that this very headline will be regurgitated and reused everywhere where right wing blowhards have the podium. This is very bad.
Third, this timing forces Obama to confront Kucinich. Yeah, little Dennis will love it. Finally, he's truly important. If Obama doesn't confront Kucinich and just hopes this falls into a black hole, it won't. Reporters will stick microphones in his face and ask him about Kucinich. So now, instead of campaigning against McCain and by extension Bush, Obama has to publically rebuke Kucinich and by extension publicly exhonorate Bush. Sure, this episoe will stoke Kucinich's "holier than thou" ego, but it's pretty destructive.
Our best hope is to keep the "lynch mob" as small as possible. So please, put down your pitchforks and torches. Bush will leave on his own, greatly disgraced. Let's use our enthusiasm instead to help to elect a saner replacement!