A primary challenger for Obama in 2012? Nonsense--it's far too late for that

[eridani]

Please join me in looking for a progressive candidate to support in 2016. Two or three years from now will be too late.

1. Get as many progressives as possible to be precinct captains in local Dem organizations.
2. Find and develop progressive candidates at local and state levels--or become one yourself.
3. Establish a message that public goods are GOOD, in order to unite pregressive issue groups behind a single solid message. If we repeat that often enough, maybe we can drown out the message that government and taxes are inherently bad except for taking money from little people and giving it to conservative campaign donors.

[Tx4obama]

1. I'll be voting for Alan Grayson in 2016. n/t

[eridani]

6. You need to do more than that. All of us need to be actively soliciting

--presidential runs from people like Grayson, Feingold, etc. We have to build the infrastructure early.

[Name removed]

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[TheKentuckian]

3. Sure, but keep in mind that by then the Wealth Care and Profit Protection Racket

will be in full swing, probably Social Security and Medicare will be cut, we'll still be in resource wars, the wealth disparity will continue to grow, huge cuts in discretionary spending will be sucking the demand out of the economy, and we will be in the midst of a "lost decade" or two so the Democratic brand will be shit and we'll have nothing to run on, widespread public mistrust, and a ruined brand.

Our options are to dump Obama and turn over leadership or the party will be dead as fried chicken by 2016.

The only and best hope is that the TeaPubliKlans keep imploding too.

[Kalidurga]

4. Hoping the teapublicans keep imploding is like....

hoping the sun will come out tomorrow. Of course, they will keep imploding. The biggest problem is these teatards are making the rest of the Republicans look sane by comparison.

[eridani]

5. Everything is going into the shitter regardless of who wins in 2012

With Obama, it will be a slower ride down. That's exactly why we need a well-planned progressive counterattack in 2016.

[readmoreoften]

7. Progressive will mean Republican in 2016 if this rightward slide continues.

[eridani]

11. I see no option but starting to build now at the local level

Reinstitute Dean's program--although this time we'll have to do it without national party backing.

[JDPriestly]

8. 2016 is too late!

It's not just us on DU. Tonight I listened to a large conference call held by my congressman. A very high percentage of the callers voted for higher taxes for the rich and no cuts whatsoever to Medicare or Social Security.

Obama is clearly out of sync with the voters.

If we don't get a third party candidate from within the Democratic Party, there will probably be a strong challenger from outside.

I would prefer a Democratic challenger. Obama should concede that he is not representing the wishes of the majority of Democratic voters -- and announce that he will not run in 2012.

[eridani]

10. I don't agree. We have to fight for progressive candidates at lower levels than

--the presidency. Meanwhile, there is barely enough time to get a progressive electoral politics structure in place before 2016. Sometimes that will mean acting within local Democratic organizations, sometimes outside of them.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. That would be the honorable thing to do, but don't hold your breath.

I agree, 2016 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too late to save this country.

[Ruby the Liberal]

9. If only Dems felt that way in 1938

but then again, they didn't have the internet and instant information at their fingertips.

Yet, they still made reelection happen and turned around the 1937/8 recession.

[Javaman]

12. Nope...

if Al Gore entered, Obama would be done.

[eridani]

13. Al Gore, per his own comments, is done with electoral politucs b/t

[Javaman]

15. oh I'm aware of that, but he would easily walk away with the primary. nt