King Fisher wrote:
Here's another person that expresses some concern about President Barack Obama future.
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Clarence B. Jones, appearing in 2008 on Tavis Smiley's PBS show.
I had lunch with my oldest son yesterday and he asked if I thought there'd be a primary challenge to Obama. I told him it wouldn't happen unless the black voters supported it, and I didn't think we were quite there yet. That was before I read Clarence Jones' Huffington Post piece this morning.
Jones was a personal advisor, legal counsel, draft speech writer and close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he's a Scholar in Residence at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. When someone with those credentials is calling for a primary challenge to Obama, something very interesting is happening. Outlier -- or crack in the dam? We'll see:
When few other public figures of national stature spoke out about Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, at New York City's Riverside Church, before a meeting of Concerned Layman and Clergy, on April 4th, 1967, said "A time comes when silence is betrayal." For Dr. King, it was "time to break the silence."
And, so it is with Obama's continued squandering of the extraordinary support he developed for his election as President.
Go and check out the video clips of the panorama of faces that assembled in Grant Park in Chicago after the election results confirmed his victory. Check out the million + people who came to Washington to witness his Inauguration.
It is not easy to consider challenging the first African-American to be elected as President of the United States. But, regrettably, I believe that the time has come to do this.
It is time for Progressives to stop whining and arguing among themselves about whether President Obama will or will not do this or that. Obama is no different than any other President, nominated by his national party. He was elected with the hard work and 24/7 commitment of persons who believed and enlisted in his campaign for "Hope" and "Change."
You don't have to be a rocket scientist nor have a PhD in political science and sociology to see clearly that Obama has abandoned much of the base that elected him. He has done this because he no longer respects, fears or believes those persons who elected him have any alternative, but to accept what he does, whether they like it or not.
It is time for those persons who constituted the movement that enabled Senator Barack Obama to be elected to "break their silence"; to indicate that they no longer will sit on their hands, and only let off verbal steam and ineffective sound and fury, and "hope" for the best.
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Great piece KF...
Another thing I have been considering is this. If O'bama is NOT primaried, and wins the election in 2012,
1) How far has/will he move to the left, between now and the election of 2012?
2) Will his political move, either center left or right, hurt the progressive's chances of getting someone who represents them better in 2012?
If he's primaried, then I think the progressives stand a better chance of getting their agenda off the ground. However, and naturally, it would have to be one who left their "yellow" crayon at home. (if you know what I mean) By having another "yellowbelly" in the White House, it may dilute the causes/agenda of the progressive left. The media, sure as hell, isn't going to advance the "vision" of the progressives, that's for sure. So the american masses, may look at us as weak, or lack any kind of organization, if he is to stay in. If I was having this conversation, during the JFK era well, I wouldn't be having this conversation, because our "progressive vision," would be set on "default" with the american people to begin with.
Which is the reason why I myself, want him primaried. For number one, O'bama and Robert Gibbs, has done more damage to the progressives, than anyone else. Their utter arrogance toward us progressives, can only be answered, by giving them the "perverbial pink slip." It will be much easier for the progressive party to make a stand first, then proceed with their agenda. Progressives trying to get O'bama's attention now, is useless at best. If the progressives do the same on O'bama's second term, you can pretty much scrap any kind of hope, (at least for awhile) of getting a real progressive in the White House.
And finally, which touches base on every point I've made so far, is how far left, center or right will he go, before the decision to either primary him, or re-send him to the White House. If he "yellowbellies," as he is doing now, BUT regains popularity with the american people, it may damage the progressive left. If he continues to "yellowbelly," and loses popularity with the american people, then we too, (progressives) may have a harder time, changing policy in congress. This is because, an already "dumbed down american sheeple," may look upon O'bama's agenda, as the "progressive's agenda." (which actually, they are doing now anyway) I cannot help it, when I picture that bastard O'reilly, calling O'bama a liberal.
...but this supports my argument
...we're dealing with dumbasses here
These personally, are the options I am weighing. However, I pretty much for the most part, have put away my "scales," and say "primary the bastard." I know, I hate the filthy right too, but it's not their standards, I want to play up (or down) to.
And just like the damage the filthy right (and O'bama) have already done, TIME IS NOT OUR ALLIE!!
This is where we, the progressives, can use O'bama's intelligence, to our advantage. It's a given, he's a pretty smart guy. It's also a given, that he is a coward.
I personally, and even as smart as O'bama is, would have an infinitely hard time, campaigning for the 2012 White House, on the "RE-LIES," of his 2008 campaign for the White House. It can happen, especially if he's fairly popular by then. But I don't think so. I think the progressives have a better chance of restoring some "decency" in the White House, than a "teabagger" would, in the Republican party. (but with a vial media such as ours, anything could happen I know)
...but that's why I want O'bama to earn his P.H.D.
(P)rimary
(H)im
(D)iligently
...we simply don't have the time
...nor really the patience