In '94 after the Dems lost congress...I don't recall anybody saying they were going to challenge

[WI_DEM]

Bill Clinton for renomination in 1996. And there was disappointment from the left over NAFTA and other issues. Clinton's approval rating was in the high 30's or low 40's. Yet, every day on DU I see posts about Obama possibly being challenged in 2012. Despite Obama's relatively stable poll numbers and the fact that in every poll Obama has the support of more than 80% of Democratic voters. Chances are that the Senate (unlike '94) will be safe this year and we will probably dodge the bullet in the house (though with severly reduced majority).

Like Clinton in '96--I don't see any Democrat on the horizon of stature (such as Ted Kennedy vs. Jimmy Carter in '80 or when Sen. Eugene McCarthy challenged Lyndon Johnson in '68) who will take on a sitting president, who, by and large, is popular within his party.

[Pirate Smile]

1. Sometimes I imagine how different things would have been for FDR if he had to deal with 24/7 cable

news and the internet during the Depression and World War II.

[WI_DEM]

2. I don't think the 24-hour media is necessarily a good thing.

[Pirate Smile]

7. I agree. It helps make everything about only today and the next election. It hurts long term

planning and goals.

[LiberalFighter]

35. With 24 media they have to manufacture news that they think is important.

Failing that they put more emphasis on little things over and over.

[Yavin4]

14. FDR Would Never Be President in Our Media Obsessed World

Drudge would have the siren going off with photos of FDR in a wheelchair.

[dmallind]

3. It's the wishful thinking of a frustrated few

It has absolutely no chance of becoming true unless Obama gets caught with the proverbial live boy or dead woman, dies, etc.

Even more disconnected from reality is the DU assumption that a challenge would be from the left, when he has 87% approval among liberal Democrats but only 69% approval from conservative Democrats. Neither wing has much chance or even incentive to try at a primary challenge, but if they had thebiggest pool of potential converts would be to the right of Obama not the left.

Of course the echo chamber will doubtless pretend that you can't GET any more right among Democrats and that people REALLY don't approve of him when they say the do, but I'll trust survey data among a large sample of Dem voters over angst on internet boards any day.

[DJ13]

4. This time is completely different from 1994

Its all economics now.

[WI_DEM]

5. Economics had a part in '94 too--the recovery wasn't really taking hold until 95-96

[DJ13]

6. That was an extremely mild recession

This borders on a depression.

[wyldwolf]

8. two comments

1. No one has said they were challenging Obama. Sure, some netizens from the purity wing of the party have declared he should be challenged, but that is a long long way from a politician even hinting he/she will challenge him for the nomination in 2012.

2. Jesse Jackson hinted he'd challenge Clinton in '96 and former Gov. Robert P. Casey of Pennsylvania actually entered the primary race, only to withdraw 4 weeks later.

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. Yeah but Clinton was...

...a real Democrat, not some centrist, Third-Way, half-a-loaf, lesser-evil DINO.

Oh, wait a minute...

It was pre-DU.

We didn't have an echo chamber yet.

The circular firing squad was out there, but it didn't have laser rangefinders yet.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

10. +1

[wyldwolf]

11. ha ha. Very good.

[Oregone]

17. I think it was a bit easier to be a third-way, successful Dem without too much criticism...

...before the bottom fell out. Im not sure how anyone can compare the current political, economical, and social environment of the US to that during Clinton's time. Its currently a mess

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

40. I think that's the real rub. Every since Gore created the Internet, it's been downhill every since.

:sarcasm:

I just think with the advent of the Internet, the relentless 24-hour cable news, and the rise of Faux News, it's more difficult. To those who assert that Obama's job is just as difficult than Bill Clinton's, you are being disingenuous. Clinton wasn't faced with two wars and a Great Recession, plus the relentless attacks coming from the right--not just because he's a Democrat, but because he's BLACK!!

The Internet, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter...

The inundation of news, politics, facts is never ending.

[scheming daemons]

12. there were no blogs where GOP trolls could pretend to...

...attack the President from the left.

[Yavin4]

16. Bingo!

Winner. winner. Chicken Dinner.

[mkultra]

19. +1 for seeing the truth

the "angry left" is another control of the masses set down by the wealthy right to keep us out of control. its pure propaganda. It doesnt exist in real life aside from the few people who are in its hypnotic gaze.

[jefferson_dem]

23. To think ... I used to take the concerns seriously...

I'm embarassed that it took me so long to realize.

[mkultra]

26. many here still dont. But the same people keep getting stoned and reappearing

[Qutzupalotl]

20. Bingo!

:thumbsup:

Obama will not have a serious primary challenger for 2012.

[jefferson_dem]

22. Whoa!

Nailed it. :thumbsup:

[great white snark]

24. Exactly.

And as the election draws nearer the trolls will get more crafty.

[dionysus]

28. ZOMG!111!!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[FrenchieCat]

29. You can say that again!

:rofl:

[NYC Liberal]

36. Amen!

It's the new version of calling into radio shows and C-SPAN and proclaiming "I'm a LIFELONG Democrat, NEVER voted for a Republican...but Bill Clinton is lying, evil, America-hating socialist murderer!" 'Course that took a lot longer than pounding out 2-3 sentence posts on internet message boards.

[Hekate]

38. Well spotted

:applause:

[Hydra]

13. Blame Clinton

Lots of the people who are thinking along those lines are remembering further damage Clinton did in his second term.

The whole "fool me once..." thing, if you follow.

Besides, I don't seen change coming out of our system. As a Libertarian co-worker of mine once snarked about Nader:

"Ok, feel free to criticize the system- it deserves it. But don't go and try to get elected in the system when you think it's broken, and then complain when you lose."

[Oregone]

15. Its not 1996

Its 2010. The economy is in shambles and there is no more hiding it. America is engaged in two costly wars. And the nation lays in legal ruins following the Bush administration.

These are extreme times, and are appropriate responses to these extremes being expressed, or are technocratic adjustments being made to keep the Zombie nation walking?

In any case, there is a lot more pain today. Yes, the president may be much like Bill Clinton in many respects, but the environment is more like that seen during FDR's time (a man who felt pressure from the left and had to alter his policies accordingly).

[madinmaryland]

18. There was no DU in 1996, and Fox noise had not even been started.

Also, Limpbaugh was just a small pimple on the radar.

Now if DU had existed...

[Ter]

30. Limpnuts was huge in 1996

However, I don't think the right constantly bashing a president makes a promary likely. It's when other elected Democrats (not everyday liberals) bash him that makes it happen. Haven't seen this in 2010.

[jefferson_dem]

21. Impatience is a virtue within certain segments of the American electorate...

A tiny sliver of folks felt destined to be disappointed fulfilled that profecy. Primary challenge or not, Obama will be in a prime position for re-election in the Fall of 2012. Whiners be damned.

[krawhitham]

25. Clinton is white

[CBR]

27. That certainly plays a big part IMO. nt

[FrenchieCat]

32. And we were too busy defending him to the GOP for his vices......

[Fearless]

34. Are you saying that DUers are racist now?

[Ter]

31. II am stunned there was no primary challenge to Clintion

He was unpopular in 1994 and 1995, so why not?

[Fearless]

33. We weren't in a bad recession then however, two wars, etc.

It is a different time.

[depakid]

37. The political vacuum Clinton created was already filled by Perot and Nader

and the economic situation was much different than it will be this go around.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

39. There was some initial talk of a challenge from Bill Bradley

And some speculation that Richard Gephardt was waiting in the wings to see if Clinton was so damaged that he would be a liability for re-election. In addition, I seem to remember that some people mentioning Jesse Jackson as a possible challenger. But nothing ever came of it and I wholeheartedly agree with your wider point that I can't see a serious Democratic challenger emerging against President Obama nor do I want to see one