Obama will be a one-term president. Oh, he'll survive incessant nagging from the Right for the next two years, but in 2012 he'll be "one and done," no question. And as a progressive who worked mightily for his election in 2008, I say, Good riddance. Obama's the worst thing that's happened to American politics since forever: He's trodden on the hopes and dreams that he exploited to gain the presidency, making cynics of young voters, turning them against politics as a vehicle for positive change--as recently evidenced by their abandonment of polling places in the mid-term elections.
There arises, therefore, this question about the Democrats' prospects in 2012: Will some (yet unnamed) progressive run against Obama in the primaries, a la Ted Kennedy against Jimmy Carter in 1980? The argument against this development will likely be that a schism among Democrats will hand the presidency to the Republican nominee, as happened in 1980 in Reagan's favor. But the obvious rejoinder is that Obama won't be re-elected in any event. He's lost both his base and the center by his obsequious cow-towing to Wall Street, the insurance industry and the military; and he's already indicated he'll drift further Rightward hereafter.
So, what's it to be progressives? Shall we remain inert and hold our collective nose in 2012 while voting for Obama, a sure loser? Or shall we act decisively to support a candidate who will truly--not just in rhetoric, but in deed--bring to America change we can believe in?
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