2010 is nearly over, and the fight for the presidency in 2012 is beginning to take shape. Corporate Democrat Barry Obama has not merely disappointed the public, nor has he merely failed to accomplish progressive goals. He has, in fact, deliberately and stubbornly refused to even try to accomplish progressive goals, opting instead to continue and expand on the fascist, totalitarian policies of his predecessor and ideological brothers, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
I do not make that last charge lightly, or at all inaccurately. Paul Street and Glenn Greenwald, as well as Jane Hamsher and the good members of the FDL family, among others, have documented the multitude of offenses which the right-wing Obama regime has undertaken against the public in the name of continuing the horrors of the Bush-Cheney years.
Sadly, the Democrat Party establishment is so powerful that no candidates exist within the institution who are willing or able to challenge Obama for the office of the presidency in 2012. That being the case, and in agreement with Ralph Nader, Jane, and others that there is little or no chance Democrats will abandon their preferred incumbent candidate, we’re going to have to acknowledge that any chance for true change will come from outside the Democrat Party. This is not an easy thing to do, but it has to be done.
Also required is a serious effort to draft candidates to run against Obama in 2012. We’re not going to do it by indulging flights of fancy, and we can’t waste two years trying to build a new political movement from whole cloth when we already have progressive organizations that we should be building up into a viable challenge to both major political parties.
In my observation, there are perhaps four people we might be able to persuade to run for president, or for Congress, in 2012: Cindy Sheehan, Cynthia McKinney, Mike Gravel, and Ralph Nader. Their politics are well within the realm of progressive values, and they’ve all demonstrated their commitment to putting their efforts where their mouths are by running for public office.
I’ve created a petition below for people to sign, in the interests of drafting people to run for the presidency in 2012.
It’s got to be done. The goal for signatures is 20,000 but the petition will be sent to Cindy, Cynthia, Mike, and Ralph even if we only reach five thousand, even if we only obtain a few hundred. If we’re serious about running a candidate against Obama in 2012, or in running genuine progressives for Congress, this is a good start. It will show these progressive fighters that there is a base of supporters who will lend their time, energy, and money to getting them elected.
Time’s wasting. Who’s with me?
Archangel M, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but have a couple of problems with what you say.
First (and this is a minor, though in my view telling, point), it’s not the “Democrat” party. It’s the Democratic party. People who say “Democrat” party are, consciously or not, following the lead of Newt Gingrich and his crowd. If you’re looking for progressive support, it’s probably terminology best avoided in the future.
Second, Cindy Sheehan played a heroic role in shifting public opinion about George W. Bush and the Iraq War. However, running an unsuccessful primary campaign against the most outspokenly liberal and effective House speaker in memory hurt (in my view) her credentials as an effective progressive leader.
Third, leaving aside the role Ralph Nader played in the 2000 election (and his other failed presidential candidacies), he has historically had little or no support from some of the largest, fastest growing and most important factions of the progressive movement (e.g., African-Americans, Latinos and immigrants, gays and lesbians, etc.).
Fourth, neither they nor Gravel, nor McKinney has demonstrated any ability to motivate and lead a significant part of the national progressive movement. (For the sake of argument, I’ll arbitrarily set a threshold of 10% of those who vote in Democratic and/or 3rd party primaries as my definition of “significant”.)
Finally, a question. Under current US constitutional and electoral law, to elect a 3rd party candidate you’d need to win a majority of electoral votes. What progress have you made to date in securing ballot lines in all 50 states for your progressive candidate, and which states are you targeting to secure the necessary 270 electoral votes?