Back in May, I asked whether progressives should mount a primary challenge against President Obama. I was ambivalent at the time. I'm now ready to endorse the idea. It is time to identify a progressive challenger to run against President Obama in the Democratic primary.
I believe that the best thing that could happen for American progressives between now and 2012 would be for a candidate to step forward to challenge President Obama for the Democratic Party's nomination. The challenger would obviously not win - that would not be the point. Such a challenge would be designed to remind the president that we progressives are not happy with his consistently right-of-center positions in which he repeatedly gives away what we want before the negotiations even begin (e.g., Dick Cheney in prison, a public option, a repeal of the Bush tax cuts, Elizabeth Warren, etc.). The goal would be to require President Obama to explain himself and be reminded of real progressive values.
Despite the White House's talking points and the mainstream media's mindless parroting of these talking points, the deal to raise the debt ceiling was not a compromise in any meaningful sense of the word. When one side gets nearly everything they want, we have a capitulation rather than a compromise. But setting that aside, what exactly is wrong with the deal? As many economists have pointed out, the deal will do considerable damage to an already weak American economy. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the deal virtually guarantees that the Republican Party will continue to hold the economy hostage to get their way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
