[P2P-F] THE INVITATION TO CHALLENGE OBAMA IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES

Mon Sep 26 19:13:19 CEST 2011

*THE INVITATION TO CHALLENGE OBAMA IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES*

September 17, 2011

Dear Colleague,

We write to you in light of recent deteriorating events in Washington, D.C.
Misguided negotiations by the Obama Administration over increasing the debt
ceiling willingly put our nation’s vital social services on the chopping
block while Bush-era tax cuts remain untouched. Clearly the situation has
reached crisis proportions. In response, an innovative plan has been
announced to reintroduce a progressive agenda back into the political
discussion during the 2012 election season.

Consider for a moment two very different scenarios for the 2012 Democratic
presidential primaries.

The First scenario, President Obama advances without contest to a unanimous
nomination. There is no recognizable Democratic challenger, no meaningful
debate on key progressive issues or past broken promises, just a seamless,
self-contained operation on its way to raising one billion dollars in
campaign funds.

This scenario is what most observers expect. Mr. Obama will face neither
opposition nor debate. He will have no need to clarify or defend his own
polices or address the promises, kept and unkept, of his 2008 campaign. The
president will not have to explain to his supporters why he directly
escalated the war in Afghanistan and broadened America’s covert war in
Pakistan, why he chose to engage in a military intervention in Libya, or why
he has maintained the Bush Administration’s national security apparatus that
allows for the suspension and abuse of constitutionally protected civil
liberties--dismissing Congress all the way.

In an uncontested Democratic primary, President Obama will never have to
justify his decision to bail out Wall Street’s most profitable firms while
failing to push for effective prosecution of the criminal behavior that
triggered the recession, or his failure to push for real financial reform.
He will not have to defend his decision to extend the Bush era tax cuts nor
justify his acquiescence to Republican extortion during the debt ceiling
negotiations. He will not have to answer questions on how his Administration
completely failed to protect homeowner’s losing their homes to predatory
banks, or even mention the word “poverty,” as he failed to do in his most
recent State of the Union Address, even as more and more Americas sink into
financial despair.

He will never be challenged to fulfill his pledge to actively pursue a
Labor-supported card check, or his promise to increase the federal minimum
wage or why he took single payer off the table after he said he believes in
it. The American labor movement, facing an unprecedented onslaught by the
Right will not have the opportunity to voice its concerns and rally around a
supportive candidate.

The president will not be pressed to answer how he spent four years in
office without addressing the ongoing destabilization of our climate or
advocating a coherent and ecologically sound energy policy including
defending his position on nuclear power and so called clean coal. Nor will
he discuss regulatory agency deficiencies in enforcing corporate law and
order in an era marked by a corporate crime wave having devastating economic
consequences on workers and taxpayers and their savings and pensions. There
will be no opportunity for the Hispanic and other relevant communities to
speak out on immigration reform even as the Republicans continue to use it
as a weapon of political demagoguery.

1

Add your own concerns, disappointments, and frustrated hopes to this list of
what will surely be left off the table during an express-lane primary. The
valid disagreements within the Democratic Party, let alone the goals of
progressives, will be completely overlooked. The media will gleefully cover
the media circus that is sure to be the Republican primaries, magnifying
every minor gaffe and carefully cataloguing every iteration and argument of
the radical right. The cameras will cover the Democratic side only for
orchestrated events, the whiff of scandal, and to offer commentary on how
the campaign is positioning itself for the general election.

The summation of this process will be a tediously scripted National
Convention, deprived of robust exchange and well-wrought policy. And here
the danger is clear: not only will progressive principles past and present
be betrayed but large sections of voters will feel bored with and alienated
from the democratic candidate. This would not serve the president’s
campaign, our goals, or the nation’s needs.

Thankfully, there is another option. This second scenario would allow for
robust and exciting discussion and debate during the primary season while
posing little risk to the president other than to encourage him take more
progressive stands. It would also accomplish the critical task of energizing
the Progressive base to turn out on Election Day.

Imagine: A slate of six candidates announces its decision to run in the
Democratic primaries. Each of the candidates is recognizable, articulate,
and a person of acknowledged achievement. These contenders would each
represent a field in which Obama has never clearly staked a progressive
claim or where he has drifted toward the corporatist right. These fields
would include: labor, poverty, military and foreign policy, health insurance
and care, the environment, financial regulation, civil and political
rights/empowerment, and consumer protection.

Without primary challengers, President Obama will never have to seriously
articulate and defend his beliefs to his own party. Given the dangers our
nation faces, that option is unacceptable. The slate is the best method for
challenging the president for a number of reasons:

 The slate can indicate that its intention is not to defeat the president
(a credible assertion given their number of voting columns) but to
rigorously debate his policy stands.

 The slate will collectively give voice to the fundamental principles and
agendas that represent the soul of the Democratic Party, which has
increasingly been deeply tarnished by corporate influence.

 The slate will force Mr. Obama to pay attention to many more issues
affecting many more Americans. He will be compelled to develop powerful,
organic, and fresh language as opposed to stale poll-driven “themes.”

 The slate will exercise a pull on Obama toward his liberal/progressive
base (in the face of the countervailing pressure from “centrists” and
corporatists) and leave that base with a feeling of positive empowerment.

 The slate will excite the Democratic Party faithful and essential
small-scale donors, who (despite the assertions of cable punditry) are
essentially liberal and progressive.

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 A slate that is serious, experienced, and well-versed in policy will
display a sobering contrast with the alarmingly weak, hysterical, and
untested field taking shape on the right.

 The slate will command more media attention for the Democratic primaries
and the positive progressive discussions within the party as opposed to what
will certainly be an increasingly extremist display on the right.

 The slate makes it more difficult for party professionals to induce
challengers to drop out of the race and more difficult for Mr. Obama to
refuse or sidestep debates in early primaries.

The slate, if announced, will receive free legal advice and adequate
contributions for all prudent expenses in moving about the country. The
paperwork is far simpler than what confronts ballot-access- blocked third
party and independent candidates. For the slate will be composed of
registered Democrats campaigning inside the Party Primaries.

This opportunity to revive and restore the progressive infrastructure of the
Democratic Party must not be missed. A slate of Democratic candidates
challenging the president’s substance and record is an historic opportunity.
Certainly, President Obama will not be pleased to face a list of primary
challengers, but the comfort of the incumbent is far less important than the
vitality and strength of his party’s Progressive ideas and ideals. President
Obama should emerge from the primary a stronger candidate as a result.

This letter is sent to several dozen accomplished persons known to identify
with the Democratic Party voting line for a variety of reasons. We ask that
you consider several requests. First, would you consider being a slate
candidate after due reflection beyond what may be an immediate no? History
has illustrated greater discomforts, material sacrifices and other profiles
of courage in our country's past for a perceived major common good.

Second, if you are not interested in joining as a candidate, would you add
your name as an official endorsee of the slate proposal. All endorsements
are made as individuals and organizational or institutional affiliations are
for identification purposes only. Your endorsement will be a vital signal of
support and will help in compiling the strongest slate of candidates
possible when we send out the letter to the candidate list, yet to be
finalized.

Third, can you suggest accomplished people to contact who may be interested
in joining the slate as a candidate in one of the following fields: labor,
poverty, military and foreign policy, health insurance and care, the
environment, financial regulation, civil and political rights/empowerment,
and consumer protection. This can be yourself if you feel it would be
appropriate.

Candidates and endorsements will be accepted on a rolling basis. All
submissions or additional questions and comments can be directed to Colin
O’Neil at colinoneil at gmail.com or 703-599-3474. We appreciate your response.

Thank you.

3

Partial List of Endorsees

All endorsements are in alphabetical order are made as individuals,
organizational/institutional affiliations are for identification purposes
only.

Norman Birnbaum

Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center

Dr. Brent Blackwelder

President Emeritus of Friends of the Earth

Charles Cray Peter Coyote

Actor, Author and Director

Charles Derber

Professor, Boston College

Ronnie Dugger

Founder, Alliance for Democracy

James Abourezk

Former U.S. Senator, South Dakota

Gar Alperovitz

Professor University of Maryland

Co-Founder Democracy Collaborative

Ellen H. Brown

Lawyer and Author of Web of Debt

Edgar Stuart Cahn

Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia

Co-founder Legal Services for the Poor

Pat Choate

1996 Reform Party Vice President Candidate

Director of the Center for Corporate Policy

Ronnie Cummins

Executive Director, Organic Consumers Association

John Fullerton

President, Capital Institute

4

Rebecca and James Goodman

Northwood Farm

Randy Hayes

Director, Foundation Earth Rainforest Action Network Founder

Chris Hedges

Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist of the New York Times and Author

Hazel Henderson,

Author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy President, Ethical
Markets Media, LLC.

Alan F. Kay

Author of Spot the Spin and Locating Consensus for Democracy Harry Kelber

The Labor Educator

Andrew Kimbrell

Executive Director, Center for Food Safety & International Center for
Technology Assessment (ICTA)

Jonathan Kozol

Educator, Author of Savage Inequalities Lewis Lapham

Former Editor, Harper’s Magazine

Rabbi Michael Lerner

Editor, Tikkun Magazine Chair, Network of Spiritual Progressives

Jean Houston

Psychologist, Anthropologist and Author of The Possible Human and The
Possible Society

Nicholas Johnson

Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

Former Administrator, U.S. Maritime Administration

Leland Lehrman

Partner, Fund Balance

Dr. Richard Lippin, MD

Physician Forecaster, Board Certified in Preventive Medicine and Advocate
for both Individual and

Institutional Prevention

5

Robert D. Manning

Founder and CEO, Responsible Debt Relief Institute

Author of Credit Card Nation

Dr. Samuel Metz, MD

Mad As Hell Doctors, founding member

Physicians for a National Health Program, member of Portland chapter

Carol Miller

Community Activist, New Mexico

E. Ethelbert Miller

Board Chair Institute for Policy Studies

Ralph Nader

Citizen Advocate

Michael Parenti

Author

John Passacantando

Former Executive Director, Greenpeace USA

Vijay Prashad

Author and Professor, Trinity College

Marcus Raskin

Author of The Common Good and former White House Advisor Andy Shallal

“Democracy’s Restauranteur” and Owner of Bus Boys & Poets

Michelle Shocked

Musician

Gore Vidal

Erich Pica

President of Friends of the Earth

Nomi Prins

Author and former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs

David Swanson

Author, War is a Lie

Chris Townsend

Political Action Director, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of
America (UE)

6

Author and Political Activist

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Chair, The Shalom Center

Cornel West

Professor and Author of Race Matters

National Coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program

Harvey Wasserman

Author of Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth

Quentin D. Young MD

********************************
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