The excuses some Democrats give for their chill toward backing President Obama's reelection bid would fill up a legal pad. He's made much too nice with the GOP. He's put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block. He hasn't pushed aggressively enough for a full-blown FDR-style jobs program. He let Wall Street and banks off the hook with a placid, terribly compromised financial reform bill. He hasn't done enough on home foreclosures. The Blue Dog and moderate Democratic congresspersons and senators that represent shaky swing and conservative districts are scared stiff that if they rub shoulders too close to Obama, they will be signing their political obituary for reelection.
Their frost toward Obama is far more worrisome than the pesky, nuisance rants of Ralph Nader about finding some progressive, pro labor Democrat to run against Obama. This is, of course, beyond ludicrous, and not much more than a cheap momentary headline grabbing ploy to feed the naive and delusional thinking of some radicals that a challenge to Obama would somehow shove him and the Democratic party to embrace an unabashed anti-corporate, anti-war, anti-poverty, pro-union, bank and financial crackdown agenda.
This talk quickly faded into the news dust bin. But it was revived for a hot moment when it seemed that Occupy Wall Street might actually become an organized movement with visible leadership, tangible goals and might actually target Obama as much as protestors targeted the corporations and GOP for aiding and abetting corporate pillage. This didn't happen. But the talk and action by entrenched, well-connected Democrats is another matter. If even a handful of the Democrats that express wariness of the president don't give Obama their full campaign support, endorsements, and a voter platform for him in their states and districts during the campaign it would be tantamount to an endorsement of the GOP. The effect would be to create party paralysis and division at worst, and uncertainty at best. This would be disastrous to a presidential campaign.
This was amply proven when Ronald Reagan challenged President Gerald Ford in 1976 and when Senator Ted Kennedy challenged President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Their challenges weakened both presidents, divided the party, and ultimately helped make possible Carter's win over Ford and Reagan's win over Carter possible. At the lower rung on the political ladder, a Democrat congressperson or senator that refuses to vigorously push their constituents to support their party's presidential standard bearer sends the strong message that the party's standard bearer's policies and actions are questionable or outright harmful to their constituents.
The inescapable conclusion that voters would draw from this is that Obama's GOP opponent might actually have something better to offer voters on the crucial make or break issues of the jobs and the economy. This is especially dangerous with polls consistently showing that a solid majority and that includes a lot of Democrats give Obama a low mark on his handling of the economy. The other great danger in the Democrats push back from the president is that it waters down even more the critical enthusiasm level for Obama. This was the biggest factor that powered him to the White House in 2008. Independents and youth voters were fired up by Obama's message of hope and change, and fed up with the GOP's corruption, bungling, blatant cronyism and scandals, and Bush's fumbles and ineptitude. They stampeded to the polls in droves to back Obama. This made the crucial difference in the must-win swing states of Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Virginia. Bush won three of these five states in 2000 and 2004. Obama won all five in 2008. In 2012 they are up in the air. Obama and his GOP opponent will fiercely fight over them. The slightest stoke of voter disillusionment by wary Democrats would further damp down enthusiasm from the very same voters that Obama will again need to turn out in back numbers.
The burden on an incumbent president is terrible, and unfair, but real, and that's what Obama will have to contend with. He will have virtually no margin for error to ward off the distraction of Democrats that have a beef with him and threaten to fold up their tents and not fully support him. It's not enough for Obama and Democrats to bank on the GOP self-destructing in rancor and division to ease Obama's path back to the White House. It will take tight-fisted unity by the Democrats behind the man who is their party's presidential standard bearer. Anything less than that by Democrats is playing a dangerous game.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is host of the weekly Hutchinson Report Newsmaker Hour on KTYM Radio Los Angeles streamed on ktym.com podcast on blogtalkradio.com and internet TV broadcast on thehutchinsonreportnews.com
Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/earlhutchinson
Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/earlhutchinson
UBL would have never been on the run and squeezed into Pakistan if the troops were not on the ground in Afghanistan so the policies of George Bush deserve the credit and are already being remembered favorably in the historical record.
STANDING BY PRESIDENT OBAMA IN 2012
After all the reasons you mentioned in the article, most of Hillary's 50% and and alarming number of Obama's 50% consider him a failure and feel no need to campaign of vote for him this time.
Why do you continually write articles criticising the voters for not supporting Obama's mediocrity?
STANDING BY PRESIDENT OBAMA IN 2012
If you vote for him again, you'll be as smart as the folks who supported Bush for his second term.
We all know how that turned out.
OBAMA: A LOVELY IDEA THAT JUST DIDN'T WORK OUT
STANDING BY PRESIDENT OBAMA IN 2012
STANDING BY PRESIDENT OBAMA IN 2012
Maybe there are a few Democrats that remember President Roosevelt. Maybe there is a trace of Roosevelt Democrat left in their blood?
See A Roosevelt Democrat knows on an instinctual level BANKS TO BIG TO FAIL is just wrong!
See President Obama is a Clinton Democrat aka a Rockefeller Republican, you know the Kinder Gentler Republican! They are socially progressive but get their marching orders from Wall Street! Just like the socially conservative Republicans!
Remember how everyone jumped off the Hillary Bandwagon when Candidate Obama became a viable candidate? We all knew Hillary was a Clinton Republican we were hoping President Obama was a Roosevelt Democrat! What a disappointment!
If President Obama maintains his close standings with BANKS TO BIG TO FAIL as a Rockefeller Republican, President Obama is in Danger of becoming the Democratic equivalent to President Hoover!!
If I were a Democratic office holder I would be keeping my distance also!
If you are not supporting Obama for a second term you are leaving your audience cold and the rest feeling like losers. You gotta be bigger than that - thinking about the good of your country first is a good thing.
This article shows clearly the confusion that many democrat voters must feel when faced with such conflicting messages and I believe gives GOP wedge in the campaign. Not smart politics.
BOTH sides are sold out.
I call Obama "OBama, Inc." because he has sold out to GE.
who would hurt everybody in this country being elected. It may seem like the best of two evils, but the reality is opening the door to any one of GOP candidates would not only be
bushlike but I would contend would display far worse behavour than your experience of an Obama republican.
We definitely need to be concerned about the current state of the country and push for the desired changes all progressives aim for. There would be no chance of that with the GOP.
Wall Street certainly put Obama in power, but after he spent the past three years blaming them for so much of what is going wrong, they were not exactly cooperative when his campaign came around again with their hands out, looking for another blank check.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/state-of-siege-usa-why-wo_b_1096143.html
STANDING BY PRESIDENT OBAMA IN 2012
That should help compensate for Obama's weak leadership and his failed economic policies.
Four more years? I hope not.
His economic polices failed because he is working with a Republican Congress who has vowed to make all of his polices fail. Four more years with fewer Republicans, I am hoping.
STANDING BY PRESIDENT OBAMA IN 2012
Besides anyone who thinks politics is a zero sum game is dilusional. I'm hanging on by a string but I'm thankful because left to the Republicans I would even have that...
I'M STANDING BY HIM TOO!!!
Obama passed Health Care, Financial reform, repealed DADT, is fighing like hell for the Middle Class and Jobs and some of these so-called DEMS didn't even vote for the bill until we were all looking.
You have to be kidding if you think Clinton was a Progressive.
You must be kidding if you think any of the fantasy world you live in has any relation to reality...
You wanted proof of what I stated. Here it is:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/curtis-ellis/obama-china-manufacturing_b_1091100.html?ref=business
So now he is running on AT LEAST I"M NOT AS BAD AS THE OTHER CANDIDATE.
I suggest getting off the 2 party merry go round. Have some respect for yourself. Write in a person of your choice who really represents you.
1) Infiltrate the site. Use liberal-sounding screen name and email address.
2) Gain their trust by being the voice of a moderate liberal. This will take a lot of acting skill.
3) Move the conversation in the direction you desire and form the debate in terms you can win.
4) Hijack the thread. Embrace your inner troll.
5) Use search engines to open links to negative articles about liberal policies, law or public figures. More hits brings these articles to the top of a search, so if people search, say, “Joe Biden” the chances are better that a negative article about Biden pops up earlier.
Sadly, you are not alone...
So, who is the Write-In person you will be voting for. You, do know that is a lost vote, I hope.
STANDING BY PRESIDENT OBAMA IN 2012
STANDING BY PRESIDENT OBAMA IN 2012