2012 challenges
I've been anxiously awaiting for the 2012 election for four years. I suppose a lot of people can say the same thing for slightly different reasons, but we're all very excited about the election. Not because it means anything really - it is simply a billion dollar spectacle that will bequeath onto the American electorate a much nicer sounding version of GWB instead of a crazier sounding version of Bill Kristol. But it will still be fun and exciting.
I'm reminded of a political cartoon depicting the last primaries: Republicans reluctantly choosing and lining-up behind McCain early on and then quietly waiting as the whole nation watched Clinton and Obama's fight, with Dem's crooning that they didn't know who to choose because they liked them both so much. The GOP primary is now the center stage, and no one really likes anyone. The candidate anointed by conventional wisdom, Romney, has never seen the top spot in polls - and really, the only candidates with a ghost of a chance in the general election have been ignored or derided by the right-wing press. The Tea Party movement has driven the party so far to the crazy fringe that no one who can win the primary can win the general.
With Herman Cain (as in all things, hilariously) out of the race, Gingrich, of all people, is claiming victory and willing to go to (omg) the Trump Debate because he figures he's so far ahead he doesn't need to worry about his credibility as much as Perry or Bachman. A Gingrich campaign against Obama, trying to get moderates to vote for him, is a frankly laughable idea. For the GOP, their only winning 2012 strategy will be - and already has been - voter suppression.
From legal, semi-legal, to illegal, they are doing everything they can, including jury-rigging, changing election law, making it more difficult for "get out the vote" (GOTV) campaigns, making it more difficult to register to vote, and confusing people about whether or not they are registered, where to go to cast their vote, whether they are eligible to vote, and old-school voter intimidation, and the ballot box by having armed guards wandering around, and at work, like with billionaire industrialists insinuating that voting for a Democrat will cost them their jobs. Conservative thinkers know that the biggest problem they face is with more people voting and the changing tide of demographics.
This, combined with voter apathy stemming both from a disillusionment with Obama and from a perception of Obama's inevitability, could give an upset victory to a GOP candidate. But this perfect storm is unlikely - the big money is on Obama, including Wall Street, Big Pharma, and the Military Industrial Complex.
So when the dust settles and the campaign debts are paid, we will have another four years of half-hearted support of good policy and quiet support of everything you can associate with previous presidencies, like expansion of executive power, indefinite detention, forever-war, the use of mercenaries, the use of depleted uranium, the support of mountain-top removal, the support of regimes that use torture and otherwise violate human rights, and the refusal to submit to binding environmental guidelines or any accountability of any kind.
Hooray for the DNC!
The challenge in 2012 will be in preparing a real liberal candidate to stand up to the inevitability of another Clinton White House, and convincing the public that such a candidate can beat the next GOP challenger. A real liberal candidate can emerge from grass-roots public policy battles, like a constitutional convention that strips corporations of personhood, a push to audit the Fed and hold white collar criminals to account for the financial crisis, and similar OWS causes.
I'm reminded of a political cartoon depicting the last primaries: Republicans reluctantly choosing and lining-up behind McCain early on and then quietly waiting as the whole nation watched Clinton and Obama's fight, with Dem's crooning that they didn't know who to choose because they liked them both so much. The GOP primary is now the center stage, and no one really likes anyone. The candidate anointed by conventional wisdom, Romney, has never seen the top spot in polls - and really, the only candidates with a ghost of a chance in the general election have been ignored or derided by the right-wing press. The Tea Party movement has driven the party so far to the crazy fringe that no one who can win the primary can win the general.
With Herman Cain (as in all things, hilariously) out of the race, Gingrich, of all people, is claiming victory and willing to go to (omg) the Trump Debate because he figures he's so far ahead he doesn't need to worry about his credibility as much as Perry or Bachman. A Gingrich campaign against Obama, trying to get moderates to vote for him, is a frankly laughable idea. For the GOP, their only winning 2012 strategy will be - and already has been - voter suppression.
From legal, semi-legal, to illegal, they are doing everything they can, including jury-rigging, changing election law, making it more difficult for "get out the vote" (GOTV) campaigns, making it more difficult to register to vote, and confusing people about whether or not they are registered, where to go to cast their vote, whether they are eligible to vote, and old-school voter intimidation, and the ballot box by having armed guards wandering around, and at work, like with billionaire industrialists insinuating that voting for a Democrat will cost them their jobs. Conservative thinkers know that the biggest problem they face is with more people voting and the changing tide of demographics.
This, combined with voter apathy stemming both from a disillusionment with Obama and from a perception of Obama's inevitability, could give an upset victory to a GOP candidate. But this perfect storm is unlikely - the big money is on Obama, including Wall Street, Big Pharma, and the Military Industrial Complex.
So when the dust settles and the campaign debts are paid, we will have another four years of half-hearted support of good policy and quiet support of everything you can associate with previous presidencies, like expansion of executive power, indefinite detention, forever-war, the use of mercenaries, the use of depleted uranium, the support of mountain-top removal, the support of regimes that use torture and otherwise violate human rights, and the refusal to submit to binding environmental guidelines or any accountability of any kind.
Hooray for the DNC!
The challenge in 2012 will be in preparing a real liberal candidate to stand up to the inevitability of another Clinton White House, and convincing the public that such a candidate can beat the next GOP challenger. A real liberal candidate can emerge from grass-roots public policy battles, like a constitutional convention that strips corporations of personhood, a push to audit the Fed and hold white collar criminals to account for the financial crisis, and similar OWS causes.