A Constructive Primary Challenge to President Obama ANS

This seems like a really good idea.  What do you think?  Could it work?  Is there a good person to do it?  Would it re-energize the people who are disappointed in Obama?
Find it here:  http://www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=10462&cpage=1#comment-482761
--Kim

* A Constructive Primary Challenge to President Obama

Here are my premises:

1) Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee in 2012, regardless of whether or not any Democrat would challenge him.

2) Re-electing Barack Obama is an important goal for the 2012 elections, because the election of the Republican nominee is almost certain to be considerably worse, and therefore nothing should be done in a primary challenge that would weaken Obama for the general election (as for example, Ted Kennedy's challenge in 1980 weakened Jimmy Carter).

3) President Obama's leadership has been sorely lacking in some essential ingredients –see "Let's Talk About THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM!"– and it is not a happy prospect that we will get no better leadership between now and January, 2017.

Therefore:

4) If there could be a primary challenge that provoked Obama to be a stronger leader without weakening him, that would be desirable.

To that end, I propose a that a well-chosen challenger come forward and declare his candidacy in the following terms:

"I am entering the race for the Democratic nomination for president in 2012 not to weaken Barack Obama but to strengthen him. We who turned to Obama for leadership in 2008 have watched him give away too much of his hard-won power by being too reluctant to stand and fight against this radical force that has taken over the Republican Party.

[This point can be elaborated as needed.]

"I know that I speak for millions of Americans in saying to this president, 'We need you to stand and fight.' And that is what my candidacy is intended to provide: a means for those Americans to send President Obama that message.

"So vote for me to send that message to the President. We need you to stop reaching out to the people who have declared themselves your enemies, and who neither speak nor act in good faith. We need you to expose and defeat the unAmerican ways of these Republicans who from the beginning have made your failure –not the nation's success– their paramount goal.

"We need you to help the American people to see this destructive force that's taken over the Republican Party for what it is, so that they will repudiate it. We need for you to stand and defend more vigorously the kind of values you proclaimed in your campaign to become president.

"We need you to use your bully pulpit to help the American people see the stark choices we face, between the ways of the Republicans –government of the people, for the few rich and powerful– and the values of the Democratic Party whose champion we chose you to be.

"And for all that, we need for you to stop avoiding the confrontations these Republicans keep pressing upon you, and instead to stand and fight.

"That's what a vote for me will mean in this primary season. I offer my candidacy as a means for the millions of Americans who elected you president to send you the message: we need you to be the strong leader, the transformational president, that you promised us you'd be."

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 21st, 2011 at 8:32 pmand is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 Responses to "* A Constructive Primary Challenge to President Obama"

1. kim Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
2. April 22nd, 2011 at 11:33 am
   
3. Wow! Would it work? And who could do this? Bernie Sanders? You? Kucinich? Oh, I know: Alan Grayson!
4. Anybody have his email so we can send this to him?