Dennis Kucinich and Realpolitik

So yesterday my main man, Dennis Kucinich, says that he's throwing his support to Barak Obama. For "second choice". For Iowa only. Thanks to the Byzantine Iowa caucus rules and their "second choice" provision, Iowans can vote for BOTH Kucinich and Obama, with Obama collecting the marbles if Kucinich fails to make the cut.

And that was my first WTF moment of 2008.

I mean, why not Edwards? He's the one who is talking the talk and walking the walk for progressive issues on the campaign trail.

Well, here's my best guess: Many of us out here in the hinterlands suspect Edwards of not being 100% genuine. My wife (the infamous She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed), when she first glimpsed Edwards in 2004, said that he was too slick, too smooth, too phony, for her to support for the presidency.

And she's right; Dennis Kucinich saw that as well. Despite the fact that Edwards talks a good fight, there is just something unsettlingly phony about him, and many people can see through it. Including Kucinich. Obama isn't the best candidate, but in my estimation he's way better than the other two "top tier" Dems, and that's why Kucinich is promoting him for "second choice".

Hence the "realpolitik" approach to the 2008 election. Despite the Edwards endorsement by Ralph Nader (yeah, after the 2000 stolen election debacle, who's gonna listen to him?), I can see that Obama is the logical "second choice" for a lot of people.

Including me.