There is no candidate of Kennedy's stature who'll run from the left in 2012...

Kennedy in 1980 was a big name in the Democratic Party. He held a ton of clout and because of that, was able to really push Carter.

Kennedy was also not pleased with Carter by a wide margin. I mean, there was a lot of bad blood between the two camps even before the election. Much of this had to do with Carter's handling of healthcare reform, which Kennedy really pushed. It didn't get off the ground because the two butted heads on the Hill and at the time, Kennedy was the most powerful healthcare voice. Without his support, there was absolutely no chance anything would ever get done and he didn't support it.

For Pres. Obama, there is no Ted Kennedy. Most of the powerful Democrats in the Senate & House support him 100%, or nearly 100%. There is not a vocal big-time politician attacking the President from the left. You might have some issues with him - but overall, he still has the support of most bigwig Democratic politicians.

And if you're going to unseat an incumbent president, you've got to have a built in base. That means they're not going to get anywhere with a guy like Dennis Kucinich or some other progressive in the House.

So if they want Obama ousted, they better support the Republican.

If they do, well we know what that makes them...

Edwards with his illegitimate child or Feingold with his record of voting with Republicans....

Oh wait... none stands a chance even if Obama didn't run again. Not a chance in the world.

Demand they give you a name. If they don't have a name now, then the "primary" meme is nothing more than pure political puffery. 2010 is more than half over. They need a name and they need it now if they are serious. Not just any name mind you, they need the name of a high profile nationally known Democrat with piles of campaign cash, plenty of troops on the ground, and a deire to run against a sitting President and anger the Democratic party leadership.

We all know that's not going to happen.

They think they're in the majority. They think most Democrats are anti-Obama. They're wrong. Even by 1980, most Democrats favored Carter over Kennedy. In that environment, which is ten-times as toxic as today's, if Kennedy (who was about as big as it gets) could not win, what makes them think their guy will?

Especially when you consider Obama still has extremely high approval ratings among Democrats (90ish percent). And even if that 10% is unhappy, we've got to remember much of that 10% is not liberal. They're conservative voters who think Pres. Obama is too liberal.

So their potential base is roughly 7% of the current Democratic Party.

lol

while they may claim to be disappoineted in Obama, I would hazzard a bet that once in the voting booth, many will not be willing to vote for the alternative the Reps may finlly put up against Obama. Not only is there a serious lack of viable potential candidates from the Republicans, the party as a whole has not risen like cream to political surface.

We are still living with too much of a fallout from Bush for too many Dems to actually want to go back to that type of political environment. While some have short term memories, the fallout is not yet a memory for many, it's a current reality. And as it turns out the Republicans have done their very best to remind most of us how we got into this economic situation. It's almost like they are doing it on purpose.

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Well, almost every comment that followed....not sure about the deleted post. ;-)

That is a first for me in any political discussion on DU! I'm loving this group more every day.

it would not make one iota of difference. That President would still have to deal with a Senate made of Democrats of all stripes, from conservative to liberal. And that President would still have to deal with Harry Reid's time table, which has been slow thus far - giving the more conservative Dems too much time to influence legislation.

Obama's agenda IS a liberal one. The Senate has always been the problem. It would continue to be the problem even if Ralph fucking Nader were president.

In fact the Republicans actions on immigration and the unemployment extension bill has secured the second term for the President.

The electorate may decide they want the Republicans to have a slice of the power by giving them the House but there is no way that they are going to elect any of these jerks as President.