The Progressive: Why a Primary Challenge to Obama Is a Bad Idea

[Better Believe It]

I respect Matthew Rothschild and his points deserve serious civil discussion and debate among progressives and the left over the next year. BBI



Why a Primary Challenge to Obama Is a Bad Idea
By Matthew Rothschild
December 9, 2010

I’m as unhappy with Obama as the next progressive, but I don’t think it’d be a good idea to mount a primary challenge to him, and here’s why.

First of all, it would be extremely divisive within the Democratic Party, and it would drive a wedge between the largely white left and the overwhelming majority of African Americans at the grassroots, who constitute the party’s most loyal constituency. The last thing we need is to incite racial animosity on the left.

Secondly, there’s no obvious, credible challenger to Obama, and even if there were, any candidate would be likely to lose, so what’s the point?

Thirdly, the divisiveness would only serve to help the Republicans and their rightist forces gain even more power, as the Ted Kennedy challenge to Jimmy Carter illustrated back in 1980.

But most importantly of all, the boomlet for challenging Obama reiterates the fallacy that Presidential politics is the crucial arena for political activism. We, on the progressive side, have been investing way too much time and energy here.

Getting behind a Presidential candidate, whether a challenger or a frontrunner, rarely builds a movement. It invariably inflates a personality and, when successful, turns that into a phenomenon centered around one charismatic figure rather than a program for substantive change (see Obama). As such, it is a diversion and a drain.

Please read the full article at:

http://www.progressive.org/wx120910.html

[readmoreoften]

1. The fact that a primary challenge means "white candidate" is damning in itself.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. "You'll eat your shit sandwich and like it if you know what's good for you!"

[MadHound]

3. However I think that the case is quickly becoming a matter of morality,

Honestly now, can you imagine voting for a candidate, incumbent or otherwise, who has failed so badly, broken so many promises, furthered the transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top, and who is poised to do great harm to SS and Medicare, do you honestly think that your conscience would allow you to vote for such a candidate? I know mine wouldn't.

Frankly I think Obama is toast at this point, whether he is primaried or not. If he isn't primaried, discouraged, disheartened and piss off liberals will either stay home or go third party in enough number to cause him to lose the election. If there is a strong primary challenger who wins, it just might revitalize that Democratic party and lead to a victory.

But either way, Obama is toast.

[yourout]

7. +1.....he sealed the deal when he ripped his base on national TV.

[bluestate10]

27. Please. Liberals ARE NOT his base.

They are voters that can give him a landslide victory. African Americans, Hispanics and moderate whites are the people that win the election for him. Minimizing the vote count of one of those groups spells trouble for democrats up and down the ticket in every state. One reason why democrats did not do well in the midterms is because African American and Hispanic voters did not turn out except in a few states (read Nevada and Massachusetts), leaving moderate democrats to bear a load that overwhelmed them.

[girl gone mad]

34. Then trouble has been spelled.

Hispanics have been burned and "moderates" think he's a socialist.

[donco6]

9. +1

Maybe we need to focus on which Republican is the worst possibility and work to defeat him/her. I dunno. It's hard to even think about it right now.

[griffi94]

13. i agree with you

i also think obama has already lost in 2012. a progressive candidate should primary him with the goal of reorganizing the party or gathering potential members of a 3rd party.

i don't see what there is to lose really. we seem to get the same govt. for the wealthy no matter which party wins.

[CakeGrrl]

24. Ha ha - if you think this administration is no better than a Republican's,

You totally deserve what you'll get from that Republican administration - and a harsh reminder that yes, Virginia, there really IS a difference.

Despite the groupthink going on here, there is a pretty massive list of accomplishments racked up by President Obama - more so than would be acknowledged around here.

If you think a Republican would've done a fraction of that, then I don't think you're thinking too clearly.

[Foo Fighter]

32. Yes. It's sad how quickly people forget that Obama closed Gitmo, got us out of

Iraq AND got us a public option in the health care bill by rescinding Bush's tax cuts on the wealthy to pay for it. Oh wait...nix that last part.

I challenge all lefties here to name a Republican that would have done a fraction of that.

[That Guy 888]

35. Aren't there still "boots on the ground" in Iraq and prisoners at Gitmo? n/t

[JVS]

4. Evan Bayh can beat Obama for the nomination.

[Cal Carpenter]

5. It wouldn't make a difference anyway

Isn't it so obvious now? It's not about Obama or any other specific politician.

The machine ain't meant to work for the people. It never was, and now it is incredibly obvious.

NO politician of any party could make the changes we need.

[PVnRT]

6. I agree, despite my disappointment with his performance

And, as I keep saying, the left is unlikely to mount a credible primary challenge. Evan Bayh of the even-more-corporatist wing of the party has millions burning a hole in a bank vault, and we all know he can't stand the president.

[jefferson_dem]

8. It's a pleasure to kick and rec one of your threads.

The only ones who should be rooting for a primary challenge to Obama are the assholes with teabags hanging from their hats.

[yourout]

12. Tell that to Obama as he seems to be trying piss off the base.

[Better Believe It]

15. President Obama is appealing to his real base. Those who funded his presidential campaign.

[yourout]

17. Well put.

[niceypoo]

18. Does that mean I get a refund?

[Autumn]

22. Well said and it becomes clearer every

day.

[BzaDem]

26. And apparently the vast majority of the Democratic party, which supports him. n/t

[howaboutme]

10. We need to look forward not backward

Isn't that what almost every US politician says, because they are in a club and we the serfs are not the privileged members. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q

Actually we need to begin looking forward and picking candidates that represent we the people instead of the financiers of Wall Street or the Party elite and forget those that don't represent us.

I can only speak for myself but I've had it with Party politics and back room deals. Then they tell us we are required to get behind what the elite claim is good for us, for the sake of the club.

Go Bernie Sanders!!!

[somone]

11. Support has to be earned

The solution is for Obama to step aside

[niceypoo]

19. Resistance is futile

You will be assimilated

[Better Believe It]

14. I think by this time next year President Obama will decide not to seek a second term.

But, he needs to get tax increases for working people(eliminating mortgage and other tax deductions) along with big cuts in government payrolls, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs that benefit working people passed by Congress first, before he announces he won't run again so that he can enter the lucrative "private sector". He should do very well for himself.

The debate in Washington will not be about how to end the economic crisis and create jobs for 15 or 20 million unemployed, it will be about cutting government deficits on the backs of working people, the poor and the elderly.

That's the congressional and Obama agenda for 2011.

[niceypoo]

16. Obama shouldn't be challenged because he is black?

Surely you jest?

[katnapped]

20. Haven't you heard?

Everyone who disapproves of his policies is a racist. Heard it right here!

[TornadoTN]

21. This article assumes that everyone will just suck it up and line up like a good sheep and vote Obama

There will be a lot of people that stay at home or vote third party, probably more so than in any other election.

[Better Believe It]

23. Not really. The writer hopes that progressives will organize mass movements to support our demands

And not mainly depend on some liberal politician to save us.

We saw how that worked out in the 2008 election.

[Liquorice]

25. It would be a bad idea to have a primary challenge because we would

almost certainly lose the WH. It does remind me of 1980 as well, and the mere thought of another Reagan-type fills me with dread. No, we have to keep the WH, and that means we can't have a primary challenger. But perhaps more importantly, what credible democratic candidate who could actually win and would consider challenging Obama is there? If there were someone out there who had a really good chance of winning, then I might change my mind, but I can't think of one person. I don't agree that racial animosity is a legitimate reason to support Obama however.

[TheKentuckian]

29. Obama is Reagan with another face. This is the old fucker's eighth term.

Also, "credible" is just code for corporate approved and owned. It means little else, the last thing this country needs is another fucking "credible candidate".

[Liquorice]

30. Oh I don't support what Obama is doing, but I am under no illusions that

he is as bad as Reagan. Reagan was like watching a horror movie. I really wish Hillary Clinton would have been the president, but we are stuck with Obama and losing the presidency doesn't seem like a viable option to me. Obama is bad, but a republican would definitely be much worse and would probably linger in office for 8 years with at least 4 more for his/her vp. It's too awful to contemplate.

[TheKentuckian]

36. Poppy wasn't as *bad* as Reagan but in a game of horseshoes it would still score.

Obama is little different than ole Poppy or Bob Dole and all but indistinguishable from a Mittens.

Clinton is cut from the same cloth and might be even more corporate friendly and pro-MIC than Obama.

[upi402]

28. flacid argument

considering that we are getting raped so badly by one we trusted.

that's more than betrayal, more than a violation.

wake up, is my recommendation. because the Republican's masters also control much of the Democratic party - Obama specifically.

[zalinda]

31. I'd vote for Jesse Jackson n/t

[democrat2thecore]

33. Racial Politics?

If anything, I think The Progressive is saying (between the lines) that a primary challenge would be futile because Obama has 90% of the black vote wrapped up. However, I am convinced Obama will bow out for 2012. Not only because he can't win but because he has no passion for the job. I think he'd give anything to still be giving speeches at the Illinois statehouse. Yes, I truly believe that.