Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

You never know with the New York Times whether it is reporting the news or trying to make the news. Having said that, this article sums up a widening discussion on whether it’s time to find alternatives to another two years of the Obama presidency. The article cites and links to calls to mount a primary challenge in 2012.

A weaker argument made by some is that the threat of a primary challenge might spur Obama to change his strategy:

“On issue after issue, when the public is on his side, this president just refuses to fight,” says Adam Green, the group’s co-founder. “At this point, the strategy is to shame him into fighting.”   [Murmurs of Primary Challenge to Obama, 12/7/2010]

Barack Obama is a grown man, and fully aware of public reaction to his policy failures. Shame may not work. If it did, it should already have made a difference.

If he does change course, it would likely be simply to assure his re-election, with a re-run of capitulation to Republicans in his second term. His behavior in office is not a result of lack of motivation.

The Times article suggests that replacing Obama in a primary election would be difficult. That assessment may be true today. By 2012, with continued unemployment, an increasingly dire housing situation, and with income disparity between rich and the rest of us growing wider, the idea may not seem so far-fetched. Two years is plenty of time for potential challengers to arise or to be identified.

Heck, I’d vote for Bernie Sanders.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 12/08/2010 07:10:00 AM