On the Thom Hartmann show, by way of Think Progress:
“I think there are millions of Americans who are deeply disappointed in the president; who believe that, with regard to Social Security and a number of other issues, he said one thing as a candidate and is doing something very much else as a president; who cannot believe how weak he has been, for whatever reason, in negotiating with Republicans and there’s deep disappointment. So my suggestion is, I think one of the reasons the president has been able to move so far to the right is that there is no primary opposition to him and I think it would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting what is a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama is doing. […] So I would say to Ryan [sic] discouragement is not an option. I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition.”
In principle, I’m totally down with this (for so many, many reasons, the mind boggles). The devil is in the details, though. Who does it (and how)? Also, many blame Jimmy Carter’s re-election defeat on the damage done during the Democratic primary against Ted Kennedy. I don’t ascribe to that theory myself (although, even given President Carter’s not-insignificant shortcomings, the 1980 primary-Kennedy was a narcissistic ass), but it’s not an irrational or indefensible theory at all, and hearing such an argument repeated will make a primary that much harder.
Thoughts? Ideas? I nominate NanuqFC.
On a side note, there goes our junior Senator’s invitation to Vermont’s next First Lady flyby.
Bernie’s completely right, and if a primary from a progressive hurts Obama and he loses the general he (and Dems) would have no one to blame but himself. Maybe some of these Dems would even begin to see that their push to moderate Republicanism isn’t a winning strategy.
Until Skip or McClaughry get appointed to something here???
Filling the void of the R’s moving to the land of self serving isn’t hard for people elected because of what they were not what they did or do. It is a shame that the person who is setting the example for the Dems on how to look out for the interests of working people, isn’t a Democrat…
Or maybe he is, and the name has just moved a little too much to the right ??
We all know the Republicans are crazy and holding the country hostage. But we’ve got an absolutely ineffectual President who has always wanted to cut Social Security and who believes in trickle down economics. So he is at best useless and more likely a Trojan horse who is really a Republican (his mentor was Joe Lieberman). And he has had outs and ways to deal with this. He could have taken the McConnell offer or he could use the 14th amendment. What’s the point of having a useless troll who is destroying what the Republicans couldn’t destroy. The conventional wisdom always tells us there is nothing we can do but keep repeating the same old system and ways. Look where it is taking us. Time for something different. This guy is phony to the bone.
Aww, gee, Odum. Thanks, I think. Can’t decide whether that means respect or loathing: running for national office in the US is one of the worst jobs in the world – all that PR stuff.
Let’s nominate Bernie! or Thom Hartmann! They’ve already got experience running for office (Bernie) and PR teams at the ready (Hartmann & Bernie).
NanuqFC
The American people are quite competent to judge a political party that works both sides of the street. ~ FDR, Boston, Nov. 4, 1944
and start looking at the system.
As someone once said, if you try to change a meat grinder from the inside, you will change more than the meat grinder.
The U.S. political system as it is resembles a meat grinder. What comes out is a blended mush of something that once was living and conscious.
Anybody who would have a chance of successfully challenging Obama in a primary (by successful I mean making enough of an impact to threaten him) would necessarily be co-opted by the big money donors. If the primary challenger actually won, we’d just have another bought-and-sold servant of the wealthy as the Democratic candidate.
Anybody who actually wanted to change things would have no money and no chance.
We need to find ways to force structural change on the electoral system. Then people like Boehner, Reid, McConnel, McCain, Bush, and Obama would get filtered out, instead of the reverse.
I wonder if Obama would be a little less conciliatory and ineffectual if a certain ruling called Citizens United had not been passed to allow the white rednecks called the tea party block to politically lynch the afro-american president. I wonder how different things would be.