Posted under Election 2012 & Obama
Newsmax has the story.
Consumer advocate and progressive liberal Ralph Nader said Thursday he will send a letter to a targeted group of 40 former university presidents, retired congressmen, progressive business leaders and civic activists and ask them to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.
“The pitch is this: Look, take six months off from your routine, form a slate, challenge Obama in the primaries,” Nader said on Fox News.
The letter will go out in “a few days,” he said.
“If he’s not challenged from the progressive liberal wing of his party that elected him, there’ll be a very dull campaign,” Nader said.
When Nader announced earlier that he was nearly certain Obama would have a primary challenger, I assumed that that meant Nader was aware of someone who had already privately stepped forward. This story suggests no one has yet, or that someone backed out. This is disappointing.
Update: A commenter at IPR, Michael Calvan RN, posted this:
I have been following this issue very closely.
There is a primary challenger. He will be announcing soon.
Kirt Higdon on 16 Sep 2011 at 10:18 pm #
Obama will not have any challenger of significance in the democratic primaries. You heard it here first.
Matt Weber on 16 Sep 2011 at 11:25 pm #
Agreed. Much of the Obama hate among liberals is all fake anyway. Liberals, like conservatives, tend to grouse and complain in the mid-years, but when the election comes and it’s a choice between Obama and–ick, a republican!–they’ll all fall right in line like they always do.
C Bowen on 16 Sep 2011 at 11:56 pm #
In open primary states, this would be good news as far as no challenger.
Maybe Nader is in on the act, and just working for some heat.
Sempronius on 17 Sep 2011 at 1:16 am #
This is a positive sign. Discontent is growing exponentially across the nation and the political spectrum. Whatever political patterns my have been established and held in the past are rapidly eroding.
Nader is a confused fanatic who nevertheless provides us with an insight into the neurosis of the contemporary Leftist mind.
Political mutations are largely the result of shifts and fissures within the confines of that mind.
Conservatives are only consequential when they receive a nod from one Leftist faction or other, which needs them to redress a balance between Leftist rivals for power.
Nader’s disaffection, which I take to be genuine, could indicate a significant vulnerability for Obama.
Sempronius on 17 Sep 2011 at 1:19 am #
Or, as Pierre Vergniaud said,”the Revolution is like Saturn, it devours it’s children.”
Sean Scallon on 17 Sep 2011 at 4:23 am #
“I assumed that that meant Nader was aware of someone who had already privately stepped forward. This story suggests no one has yet, or that someone backed out.”
No, Nader was engaged in wishful thinking and hoping he could delude someone into taking up the challenge. In any case, any remote chance their would have been a primary challenge ended when the Republicans won the House in 2010.