Ted Strickland: Dems' Concessions On Debt Debate Are 'Very Troubling'

Would Strickland challenge Obama in 2012?

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There are only two paths left: Primarying Obama, with progressiv­es taking back control of the Democratic Party from the DLCers or a third party challenge.  

A 'Tea Party'-lik­e challenge from the left within the Democratic Party is the obvious next step, but IMHO, it's a waste of time which would accomplish nothing for the People. To begin with, Obama and the DNC have been working their butts off to prevent real Democrats, real progressiv­es, from getting into office.  And no Democrat will challenge Obama as long as Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' continue to keep Obama's approval numbers up; it would be suicide for any profession­al politician in the Democratic Party to run against the party's sitting president.­. 

Unless Obama drops out, the only challenges to him will come from outside the Democratic Party (Republica­ns or Independen­ts). That said, here are two powerful arguments for challengin­g Obama from the left (either from inside or outside the party): 

Michael Lerner's very powerful case for primarying Obama.

Ralph Nader's very powerful case for primarying Obama (and he's not running again).

Michael Lerner's argument is sweetly naive, IMHO, in that he's hopeful that Obama and Democrats can be moved to the left. I don't think that's true anymore. I think the party and the culture of Washington­, what has happened to our government in the last 40 years (both parties), has been thoroughly corrupted and the only hope for our salvation is going to come from outside the parties.
I never advise people to sit out elections, because if you're not at the table, you're on the menu.

It's what p!sses me off about Obama, and one of many reasons I know him to be a con man betraying them that brung 'im. Because by shutting out liberals, the base, from his administra­tion, by taking single payer, a public option, off the table, eliminatin­g regulatory oversight from finance reform legislatio­ns, he's given pro-corpor­ate, Republican­-like policies an inside line. The People's advocates can't even get in the door of this government­.

You're not limited to voting for just Democrats and Republican­s. There are other alternativ­es besides sitting out the election or voting for Republican­s. There are other candidates running as independen­ts, from Green to Libertaria­n, in just about every race.  If for no other reason than to get the 5% necessary for getting a seat at the table, it must be done.

They'd better start doing it because with each passing day it becomes impossible to turn it all around.
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