Last Monday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, defied the Democratic Party leadership and introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush.

The resolution, of course, went nowhere. The House voted 251-166 to send the articles to the Judiciary Committee, where they will languish and die - just like a similar effort by Kucinich last year to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney.

True, Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential contender, may be a gadfly. But it would be a mistake to belittle the importance of what the Ohio congressman did Monday.

Kucinich took the House floor for four-and-a-half hours to deliver a powerful and detailed accounting of how Bush has abused the power of his office by repeatedly placing himself and his aides above the law that he is sworn to uphold. Even though a complacent Democratic Party leadership has been willing to turn a blind eye to all kinds of administration malfeasance, Kucinich's articles will go into the Congressional Record and become part of our nation's historical record.

Years from now, when historians sit down to assess the Bush presidency - which, based on the cascade of incompetence (Katrina) misdeeds (Iraq ) and economically disastrous policies (irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy), will undoubtedly go down as one of the worst administrations ever - Kucinich's impeachment articles will figure prominently.

The administration and its defenders have dimissed Kucinich's resolution as they do any legitimate criticism of the frightening expansion and misuse of executive power and privilege since Sept. 11, 2001, as partisanship. Bush has continued to do whatever he chooses because the Democrats, even though they are now in the majority, have failed to uphold their constitutional responsibility to stand up to the executive office when its holder veers so terribly off course.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said numerous times that impeachment is off the table and that holding hearings would only cause more division. With the country on the road to ruin, the Democrats apparently are content to sit idly by and let Bush's presidency wither on the vine. After which, presumably, a Democratic messiah will reclaim the White House and produce some miraculous fix for the disaster that they irresponsibly allowed to happen on their watch.

I suggest you read Kucinich's resolution for yourself. Ask yourself if any of these allegations appear to constitute "high crimes and misdemeanors" - which is the legal requirement for impeachment of the president.

Article I: "Creating a Secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false case for war against Iraq."

Article II: Falsely, systematically, and with criminal intent conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, with misrepresentation of Iraq as a security threat as part of a fraudulent justification for a war of aggression.

Article III: Misleading the American people and members of Congress to believe that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction to manufacture a false case for war.

Article XVI: Reckless misspending and waste of U.S. tax dollars in connection with Iraq and U.S. contractors.

Article XVIII: Secretly authorizing and encouraging the use of torture against captives in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places as a matter of official policy.

Article XXIV: Spying on American citizens without a court-ordered warrant, in violation of the law and Fourth Amendment.

Article XXV: Directing telecommunications companies to create an illegal and unconstitutional database of private telephone numbers and e-mails of American citizens.

Earlier this month, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee released its findings alleging that U.S. intelligence analysts were strongly disputing alleged links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida - at precisely the time that Bush officials were using those same links to make its case for going to war against Iraq.

Meanwhile, former White House spokesman Scott McClellan asserts in his memoir that Bush was not "open and forthright on Iraq."

McClellan goes on to say, "what I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary and the Iraq War was not necessary."

Sure, I suppose this former Bush loyalist could be a Benedict Arnold who'll do anything to sell books.

But taken in the context of the administration's entire record, I don't think so.

In light of the president's increasingly muscular comments raising the possibility of a U.S. military strike on Iran - supposedly to thwart its nuclear weapons ambitions, we should all read the Kucinich resolution and ask ourselves: Haven't we been here before?

Tammerlin Drummond is an editorial writer and columnist for the Bay Area News Group. Contact her at tdrummond@bayareanewsgroup.com.