SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Dennis Kucinich is no Bush-lite.  He was first to oppose the war with Iraq and he has never wavered.  The only candidate who actually voted against the Patriot Act, the one who pledges to cancel NAFTA and WTO as his first act in office, the sponsor of a bill to provide Medicare for everyone and to create a Department of Peace and Nonviolence.  He's from the state where presidents are picked, Ohio.  He's co-chair of the Progressive Caucus in the House, and he's made a career out of defeating incumbent Republicans.  Fellow Democrats I give you Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

[Music "Power to the People..."].

REP. KUCINICH: Hello Iowa and hello America.  I'm Congressman Dennis Kucinich from Ohio and I'm proud to be here to join all the Democratic candidates in this great crusade to take back the White House for the people of this country.  I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself because my journey to this forum has been like some of the others but in some ways unlike.

I grew up in the City of Cleveland.  My parents never owned a house.  By the time I was 17--they moved from apartment to apartment--we lived in 21 different places including a couple cars.  So I understand what it's like for a lot of people who aspire to homes, who want to make sure they have a good job, who want health care, who want to make sure that their children have a chance to go to college, because that's been part of my dream and I've had the opportunity being here tonight, remembering where I came from to share this dream now with the American people.

In 1965 I took a job at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  I worked two jobs to save money to go to college.  And the job that I had at the Plain Dealer as a copy boy was to go out and pick up pictures at people's homes.  I'd arrive in front of a house, it was usually a house that was a single frame, a wooden frame house with a little blue star in the window.  And I'd walk into the living room and the people would be seated at this old couch and there'd be a picture of their son on the--on top of a television and on the wall there'd be a picture of Jesus and Kennedy.  And the people would go to the TV and they'd pick the picture of their son and they'd give it to me and they said please take care of this picture and get it back to us.  When our son comes home we want to make sure that it goes atop his casket because their son died in the war in Vietnam.

I could tell you that my presence in this race carries with it a memory not only of where I've come from, but it carries with me a memory of where this country came from over the last 35 years.  And I stand here to say that as the next president of the United States I intend to take this country in a new direction, because it is time for America to get out of Iraq, to get the UN in and the US out; it is time for America to rejoin the world community; it is time for America to meet the challenge of terrorism by connecting with the world community, by working with the world community, by enabling us to be safe here at home, enabling us to work with the world community we can have security everywhere.  But America cannot go it alone and America must stand on truth.  And the truth is that this administration lied to the American people.

And so if it was wrong to go into Iraq, I contend it's wrong to stay there.  People say, oh, we're there; how can we get out?  And I say there is an exit strategy, and the exit strategy is to get the UN in, the US out; to go to the UN and ask the UN to handle the oil, ask the UN to handle the contracts.  No more Halliburton sweetheart deals.  Ask the UN, ask the UN to handle the cause of governance until, until the people of Iraq can have self-determination.  We can get the UN in and the US out and bring our troops home, and I stand here today to say that it is not sufficient to continue our presence there.  Our troops are finding themselves in an intensification of the battle.  It is not sufficient for people in the White House to talk about a draft; it is not sufficient for even some candidates to talk about extending the draft to 18-year old women.  That is not the way America needs to go.

We need to get this country out of Iraq so that we can return to our domestic agenda.

This is the moment we should be calling for universal single payer health care, Medicare for all.

This is the moment when we should be calling for a full employment economy.

This is the moment when we should be calling for tuition free for all of our public colleges and universities.

This is the moment when we should be calling for universal child care for every child age 3, 4 and 5.

This is the moment when we should be calling for a new energy policy.

This is the moment when we should be calling for an America that we can lift up, an America with a greater vision, an America that can reconnect with the world community, an America that can lead the way to getting rid of all nuclear weapons.  An America where a president will say, as I will say, I will cancel--I will work to achieve an America which works with the world community.  I will sign the biological weapons convention, the chemical weapons convention, the small arms treaty, the land mine treat, join the International Criminal Court, sign the Kyoto climate change treaty.  It is time for America to rejoin the world.  It is time for us to rejoin the world in a vision  of hope, in a vision of solidarity with the world, in a vision where we believe in our capacity to create a new world of peace and hope for all people.

My fellow Iowans and fellow Americans, this is the moment that we've been waiting for.  The moment when we can reclaim our country, the moment when we can create America that we would be proud to turn over to our children.  This is a moment and every candidate here is up to the challenge.

Every candidate here is ready to go forward to create a new America.   Every candidate here is ready to go forward to create peace.  Every candidate here is ready to go forward to create prosperity for all Americans.  Every candidate here is ready to go forward to call america to a new and better future, and America where all may be fed, where all may be housed, where all may be educated, where all may have health care, where all may live in peace, where all may say God Bless America, I'm so proud to be an America.  Thank you.

[Music "Power to the People..."].

Copyright © 2003  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.