The Huffington Post has a piece penned by Clarence B. Jones, Scholar in Residence, Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, where he proposes "Time to Think the Unthinkable: A Democratic Primary Challenge To Obama's Reelection."Throughout his piece one can almost feel his regret that he is saying what he is saying. His profound sadness that the time has come to consider bringing up a serious Democratic challenger against Barack Obama, their chosen golden child, in the 2012 Democratic primaries for who the party as a whole wants to run as President of the United States of America.
It is time for Progressives to stop "whining" and arguing among themselves about whether President Obama will or will not do this or that. Obama is no different than any other President, nominated by his national party. He was elected with the hard work and 24/7 commitment of persons who believed and enlisted in his campaign for "Hope" and "Change."
You don't have to be a rocket scientist nor have a PhD in political science and sociology to see clearly that Obama has abandoned much of the base that elected him. He has done this because he no longer respects, fears or believes those persons who elected him have any alternative, but to accept what he does, whether they like it or not.
It is time for those persons who constituted the "Movement" that enabled Senator Barack Obama to be elected to "break their silence"; to indicate that they no longer will sit on their hands, and only let off verbal steam and ineffective sound and fury, and "hope" for the best.
The answer is blowin' in the wind
The pursuit of the war in Afghanistan in support of a certifiably corrupt Afghan government and the apparent willingness to retreat from his campaign commitment of no further tax cuts for the rich, his equivocal and foot dragging leadership to end DADT, his TARP for Wall Street, but, equivocal insufficient attention to the unemployment and housing foreclosures of Main Street, suggest that the template of the 1968 challenge to the reelection of President Lyndon Johnson now must be thoughtfully considered for Obama in 2012.
Recent polling has shown that Democratic supporters are split on whether Barack Obama sould be handed the Democratic nomination for presidency in 2012, with an AP-KN poll showing that among all 2008 voters "51 percent say he deserves to be defeated in November 2012 while 47 percent support his re-election."
Among Democrats the numbers are "47 percent say Obama should be challenged for the 2012 nomination and 51 percent say he should not be opposed."
Marist polling also shows an uphill battle for Obama with 48% of registered voters nationwide saying they will vote against Barack Obama and only 36 percent saying they will vote for him.
Large portions of the liberal base are upset with Obama for not pushing far enough to the left. Independents have run from him in droves because of how far left he has pushed America and conservatives were never going to vote for him anyway.
The problem lies with the diehard Obama supporters that will never admit they were wrong about him and will vote for him in 2012 come hell or high water, no matter what he does or how he has disappointed them.
Any challenger will have to understand that if they win the Democratic nomination from Obama, they may never get those voters to the polls to vote in 2012 if their "One" has been defeated within their own party.
We have seen this talk before from Obama supporters every time he does something unpopular with them, or to rephrase, any time he hasn't done what they want him to, but rarely do we see a person with the seriousness of Clarence B. Jones take to the pages of a site like Huffington to push the idea.
Recently though this talk of a primary challenger to Obama has become a chorus, with bloggers and media as well as pollster issuing it as a very real possibility as the cumulative effect of Obama's policies start becoming obvious.
Obama’s presidency might be a lost cause, but for the good of the country, the soul of the Democratic Party must be saved. And the only way to do that is to challenge him for the Democratic nomination in 2012.
It is easier for Independent thinkers that voted for Obama in 2008 to look back and suffer buyer's remorse and admit publicly they have made a mistake. One recent example is Kiss Rock Star Gene Simmons stating "If you take a look at (Obama's) resume, you couldn’t find somebody, in retrospect, more unqualified".
These are the type of things people are supposed to learn before voting but I give credit to Simmons who has incredible courage to publicly acknowledge he was wrong and regrets his decision. Hopefully in 2012 he will use his vote more wisely.
If Democrats do unite in the the goal of issuing a primary challenge to Obama in 2012, who would it be, especially after Hillary Clinton already shot down the possibility of it being her?
Here is another question.. after losing the support of Independents and portions of the liberal left, the elderly, women and white males... would Barack Obama have any chance to win the 2012 Presidential election?
Mark Halperin from TIME seems to think it would take a lotttttttaaaaaaaa luck.
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