At first I was puzzled by Kucinich’s semi-endorsement of Obama:

I hope Iowans will caucus for me as their first choice this Thursday, because of my singular positions on the war, on health care, and trade. This is an opportunity for people to stand up for themselves. But in those caucus locations where my support doesn’t reach the necessary threshold, I strongly encourage all of my supporters to make Barack Obama their second choice. Sen. Obama and I have one thing in common: Change.

This shoutout is good for the duration of the Iowa caucus, but it’s widely expected to lead to a later endorsement should Kucinich drop out in the spring.

I have a lot of respect for both Senator Obama and Representative Kucinich, but their positions on the listed issues are quite different.

• On the war, Kucinich wants out now and has voted that way all along. Obama, who like Kucinich was against it from the beginning, wants out soon, and has voted with Hillary on Iraq almost 100% of the time.
• On health care, the one true voice for single-payer recommends the only one of the top three candidates whose health care plan does not ensure that everyone’s got some sort of coverage.
• On trade, Obama joined Clinton in publicly supporting the free trade pact with Peru, and in not showing up in early December to cast a recorded vote. Kucinich referred to members of Congress who voted for the agreement as folks who “just don’t get it”.

I strongly agree with Kucinich on all three issues. But doesn’t Johnny Edwards have positions closer to those of Kucinich on all of them? And didn’t Kucinich throw his support to Edwards four years ago, helping Edwards make a surprise finish whose momentum led to the VP slot?

So what’s up with that? There’s a story that Kucinich got an agreement for Obama to push for him to be included in future debates; I haven’t yet seen it sourced, so it could be just a rumor. But it seems consistent with what happened last cycle. I voted for Dennis in the primary but was disappointed by what appeared to be a complete cave to the Democratic establishment. He didn’t even get a prime-time speech at the convention. But perhaps he got the right to speak: during the campaign he was often paired with Al Sharpton as commentators representing the left to television audiences. Now more people know about his arguments, though the program formats rarely let him speak for long.

Re-stipulating that the semi-endorsement is a fact, but the motivation is just speculation, does this mean Kucinich couldn’t get Edwards to agree to the same thing, or that he considered Obama’s push more effectual? Or could it be that Edwards has become too confrontational for Kucinch’s taste? Perhaps the old argument between evolutionary and revolutionary change is being re-enacted.