I'm not looking at Dennis Kucinich in this photo, either.
The battle for health care reform may be nearing a vote in the House, as President Obama has predicted. Now a major stumbling block has been removed, as Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich has changed his stance on the current version of the health care bill, which brings to mind credit repair – for his image.
It remains to be seen what it was that swayed the former critic of the bill, but the New York Daily News reports that pressure from the president and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have had a lot to do with it. They apparently put the screws to him in his home state of Ohio this week.
Dennis Kucinich says yes, but with reservations
While his vote brings Nancy Pelosi one closer to the 216 needed to pass health care reform, Dennis Kucinich won’t say that the version of the health care bill that’s on the table is perfect.
“I have taken this fight farther than many in Congress have been willing to take it,” Kucinich said in a statement to the media. “In the past week, it’s become clear that the vote on the final health bill will be very close.”
Then he said he didn’t want to be the one to deep-six the bill
That sounds like Dennis Kucinich doesn’t want to draw someone’s wrath. Who might that be? President Obama? Speaker Pelosi? His wife Elizabeth could also be a culprit.
The big question is – how will we pay for this health care bill?
Depending upon who you ask, we could either have it covered AND reduce the deficit or continue to pay for this many generations later, saddling them with tax debt. Dennis Kucinich hasn’t forgotten this part of the equation, which is most likely why he said that he has “taken a detour through supporting this bill,” and that he will continue to seek more “robust” reform. Whatever scores points with the English rose, Dennis.
(Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65235746@N00/ / CC BY 2.0)
Related Video:
