You must vote for Obama or you will be eaten by cannibals

[ThomWV]

Skip this paragraph if you don't want my background. I'm a Democrat, and I would not call myself a particularly Liberal Democrat either. I don't vote for Republicans and I have voted in every Presidential election since 1968. I have a college education and keep up with current events primarily through C-span, straight from the horse's mouth. I donate to candidates to the extent I am able. If you are running for office in my district I'm the sort of person you want on your side if for no other reason than that I have the ability to strongly influence the votes of at least three other people and almost guarantee that they will go to the polls at every opportunity.

I can not accept the argument that a primary challenge leads to the defeat of a seated President. President Obama had a half a dozen strong Primary Challengers in his last election, any one of which would have had my vote (and I'd bet your's too) in the last election. Then, as now, I want a Strong Democrat in the White House. It is my view, however, that we do not have one. I think President Obama is a weak President who is able to be manipulated into accepting positions that are harmful to the nation or else is supportive of them. Yes, he has had successes, but damned few and more often is both slow to engage and ineffective when he does. Hell, John Boner said himself that he got 98% of what he wanted in the debt deal alone and one would have to be blind as a bat not to see the madness that it will lead to six months from now. So I do not feel that he has earned my vote because/and I do not think his Presidency has been good for the nation. Being better than the other guy is not enough, you must also be good. Being less to the right than the far right is not enough. Democrats lean to the left, the current President does not.

There are many who think that if there were a serious primary challenge to our current President it would usher in any Republican challenger, even in this year when the Republican Party has no one who even they think would make a passable President. Implicit in that thinking is that the best person can not win. That we should, with fear as our only motive, live with the lessor of two evils even in the face of an alternative, a Primary Challenger, who promises be a champion of the left. It is lunacy to think we must vote for the incumbent no matter if a potentially better choice exists because if you don't a boogy-man might get you, or that you might be eaten by cannibals.

This nation has suffered under right-wing governance for at least the last 31 years and it has failed. Its time to give the left a chance.

[theophilus]

1. I thought it was zombies. Rec. n/t

[daleanime]

5. Zombie cannibals?

Yes an end to the zombie threat!

[Hawkowl]

2. Ted Kennedy would have defeated Reagan

In fact, I believe had Carter put Kennedy on the ticket, Carter could have probably defeated Reagan.

We need a liberal challenger now. If we don't get one in 2012, we will after Obama is defeated.

[AllyCat]

3. I'll conider any legitimate fighter for the people. We'll have to have our own site though since we

can't do that on DU. I think there is actually some common ground with the Tea Party sympathies (at least at the personal level) and maybe we could link up with actual Americans who are trying to eke out a living. I do like the name of the Jobs Party!

[Whisp]

4. lots of common ground with the Tea Party sympathies...

hope your move goes well.

[leftstreet]

6. The first 'Tea Party' protests were over the Wall Street bailouts

lots of common ground initially

[woo me with science]

19. This is true. The Tea Party started out anti-corporate and got hijacked

when the corporate interests saw the potential there.

There are a lot of former Tea Party supporters who are absolutely disgusted by the turn the group took when it was hijacked by the corporatists and the right wing social agenda. All those people could be won back by a legitimate challenge to the banks and corporate machine.

[AllyCat]

10. Not the corporate leaders of their party and certainly not the racists, and other fearful people

but those who want to work, Tea Party or no, and those who have their benefits cut will have common ground.

[dgibby]

8. Or maybe Job's party, considering all the suffering we're going through. n/t

[AllyCat]

11. Funny, but sad because it is so true. Although seeing the plight of the folks in Somalia

on the cover of the NYT yesterday made me realize things could be a LOT worse.

[Maven]

7. He needs to at least feel the threat of a replacement from the left.

K/R

[FarLeftFist]

9. Actually 2012 would be a good year for a Primary

Because it seems the republiCons are going to nominate a nut-job i.e. Bachmann, so whoever wins the D's primary will probably become president. I like Obama, but I would love a Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren ticket or Sanders/Kucinich or Grayson, etc.

[Bonhomme Richard]

14. I would love to see a Sanders challenge but he's not a Democrat. n/t

[ThomWV]

17. He caucuses with Democrats, for my money he is a Democrat, I'd vote for him in a heartbeat

The only answer I can give to "Bernie isn't actually a Democrat" is that to my way of thinking Bernie is actually the only Democrat in the Senate.

[emilyg]

22. I'd vote for him.

[druidity33]

36. With Sanders in it,

it would be a 3 way race. He's not in the same Party as Democrats, so he can't run on their line.

:shrug:

[in_cog_ni_to]

29. Yep! The RWers have NO ONE worthy of the WH and a Progressive would beat Obama

EASILY in a Primary...especially someone like Bernie Sanders or Alan Grayson and as suggested by KoKo tonight, Al Gore! Once Bernie hit the airwave with his defense of the little guy, he'd be in like flint. People are starved for that kind of politician. Someone who REALLY DOES CARE.

The ticket: Bernie Sanders/Alan Grayson OR Al Gore/Bernie Sanders OR Alan Grayson/Bernie Sanders OR Al Gore/Alan Grayson.....I don't see Al Gore being VP ever again.

[caty]

12. If there is a Democratic primary

I will vote for the challenger. If not, I will still vote a straight Democratic ticket in the general election. We have no other choice. If we could win the Congress back we might have a fighting chance to keep our heads above water until the next election. Maybe then we could vote for a stronger Democrat who would stand up for the Democratic platform.

[whatchamacallit]

13. It doesn't matter, Obama is the corptocracy's heir apparent. He will be president.

And he will take their destructive agenda to the next step.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. I still cling to the notion that my vote belongs to me. Not to any party or politcfian.

I've been a Democrat since 1965 but I do not owe the party my vote. If they want it they'll have to earn it. Unfortunately, they'd rather try to earn the votes of the right or middle.

"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789.

"Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office,...to take a part with either would be unworthy of a reasonable or moral man." Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1795.

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." John Quincy Adams

[kctim]

16. I really hope progressives attempt to primary President Obama

Maybe then, after President Obama wins with 75+% of the Dem vote, they will actually understand that we have to work together.

[daleanime]

18. I like that, lets work together....

do things "MY" way.:wtf:

[kctim]

24. WTF indeed

If you don't like the numbers, change them.
Until then, you have two choices:
1 - Work together with fellow Democrats and at least get some things done.
2 - Complain and get NOTHING done.

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. And you don't see that losing 25% of the vote which you SHOULD

have 100% of is a BAD thing?

If one out of four people were telling you that you were fucking up, wouldn't that make you take a second look at what you were doing?

[kctim]

23. Of course I would take a second look at what I was doing

But I sure as hell wouldn't totally ignore the other three in order to satisfy the opinions of one.

[bvar22]

20. A strong Liberal Primary Challenger may be the only way to save the Democratic Party.

It would mitigate mass defections on The Left if people felt there was actually somebody IN the Democratic Party that spoke for them.
"Shut Up and Eat Your Peas or you get Sarah Palin" isn't going to GOTV,
but
"There IS a part of the Democratic Party that is worth saving" just might.

"I've seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the Fair Deal, and says he really doesn't believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don't want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign."
---President Harry Truman

QED:2010

[nostalgicaboutmyfutr]

25. Here, here!

[indepat]

26. Cannot accept the thesis that BHO is a weak president who is easily manipulated: I think the

whole episode was orchestrated to get what he wanted. :patriot:

[ThomWV]

27. If you are right about that then there is no reason to vote for him at all.

[indepat]

28. Just my reading of the tea leaves in the context of everything known to have gone down during this

administration. :shrug:

[in_cog_ni_to]

31. Yeah...the woe is me schtick...."the Rethugs made me do it" is getting old. n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

30. GREAT, GREAT post! K&R!

[U4ikLefty]

32. I heard the Rethugs will appoint a cannibal to the SCOTUS if elected

The already appointed Al-EAT-o...oh noes!1!!11!!

[Canuckistanian]

33. I never understood that reasoning

If a Dem President is primaried, then he loses. It seems to be gospel.

The way I see it, that's just the way it happened and each situation was different.

[unkachuck]

34. K&R....n/t

[FogerRox]

35. Eat Me.

No I feel like Bart Simpson, Ahhhh..

[dipsydoodle]

37. I'm not allowed to vote - UK

but could I chose Nancy Pelosi to eat me instead ?

[Armstead]

38. Your last sentence pretty much nails it

[lunatica]

39. Who do you have in mind?

Your rationale is great until reality sets it. Is there even one example to substantiate your 'opinion'?

Elections are a beast that is its own species with it's own rules. A beast based on a heightened emotional response similar to the unknowable rationale of the chemical reactions in the brain that falling in love entail. We haven't yet been able to figure it out, except to know logic doesn't apply.

Explain the reasons and the causation of falling in love and you'll know how the average voter decides who to vote for.

[druidity33]

40. Whew! I misread your thread title...

thought you said "cannabis". That'd be a harsh buzz...

:)

[chill_wind]

41. K & R. n/t

[treestar]

42. Yeah, maybe you will

You need a Democratic House and a 60 Democratic Senate and a Democratic President and that should be what you work for, rather than obsessing over the Presidency as if it were a monarch's throne.