Bernie Sanders says Obama needs primaried?

[Grumps]

Yowza, Bernie.

[anvi]

I think that was rather predictable.  The hard left of the Democratic party hate the president, think he is a traitor and practically a third-term Bush '43, and they want to get somebody like Kucinich or Sanders himself to primary Obama.  This is not that last time we'll see a call for a Dem primary challenger this year, and who knows?  Someone might step up just to make the liberal case.

[Torie]

Bernie, the Green Party wants you to run for President. Go for it!

Someone had to say it. 

[anvi]

The thing is, thinking through it for a few moments, a liberal primary challenger to Obama would get so massively overwhelmed in the early states that running such a challenge would actually hurt the liberals' case.  Only about 20% of Iowa voters identify themselves as liberal, New Hampshire Democrats are pretty famously moderate, Nevada Democrats, many of them Hispanic, are not going to turn away from a president who put a Latino woman on the Supreme Court and at least supported the Dream Act, though he didn't pass it, and South Carolina Democrats, with a big African American base, are going to stick with Obama too.  

I think, if the liberals wanted to make their case, they should do something like host a kind of public "summit" with Obama, where they could air their grievances and try to pin him down on some commitments, instead.  Running a primary challenger who would only get destroyed with elemental fury in the early states would not do much to advance their agenda.  And, besides, eating your young is not a good way to stay in power; Jimmy Carter could relate a few stories about that.

[King]

Bernie would probably win Vermont if Obama were deemed to have more than 272 evs in the vag.

[King]

*!ag

[King]

**bag

[Username MechaRFK]

Bernie, the Green Party wants you to run for President. Go for it!

Someone had to say it. 

I would vote for Sanders if he's the nomination for the Green Party.

[Torie]

Bernie, the Green Party wants you to run for President. Go for it!

Someone had to say it. 

I would vote for Sanders if he's the nomination for the Green Party.

That's my boy! 

[porker]

I understand the logic of threatening to primary a democratic president to push him to the left, but what's the logic in actually following through on it? Surely Sanders should recognize that compromising Obama's campaign is bad for a liberal agenda. Why isn't he as afraid of a rupublican/ tea party administration as I am?

[Mercenary]

Sanders would be better than Obama or Romney.

[TheGlobalizer]

Sanders is delusional if he thinks a hardline progressive can win nationally.

Obama is that particular type of leftist that doesn't inspire the touchy-feelies, does a lot to look like a corporate shill, and still manages to cause even right-leaning independents to froth at the mouth in abject hatred.

I do think Obama could be successfully primaried, though.  But I don't see the Dems doing that to the First Black President^TM.

[Governor NVGonzalez]

Bernie would probably win Vermont if Obama were deemed to have more than 272 evs in the vag.

okay this is my signature

[Governor NVGonzalez]

Bernie, the Green Party wants you to run for President. Go for it!

Someone had to say it. 

I would vote for Sanders if he's the nomination for the Green Party.

That's my boy! 

-facepalm-

[bgwah]

Bernie would probably win Vermont if Obama were deemed to have more than 272 evs in the vag.

Best. Texting typo. Ever.

[bgwah]

I would love to see Sanders run as the Green Party's candidate. But only if Paul runs as the Libertarian's candidate to even things out.

[Meeker]

Bernie's not a Democrat so it's not really surprising that he'd say this.

[Brandon H]

They can vote for Obama's Democratic primary challenger, Randall Terry.

[Senator Napoleon]

Sanders would be better than Obama or Romney.

Or almost anyone else for that matter.

[ChairmanSanchez]

Chairman Sanchez says Sanders needs to get off his lazy bum and do it himself!

[asexual trans victimologist]

Chairman Sanchez says Sanders needs to get off his lazy bum and do it himself!

The problem there is that Sanders probably won't win, and then he'd be out of the Senate too. Other than that I would be with you a hundred per cent. Great Senator. Great guy, too. When I was growing up in Vermont he was already a living legend from his time as Mayor of Burlington even when he'd only racked up a few terms in the House. About the only modern Vermont politician who was any more the very definition of a freedom fighter was Fred Tuttle.

[ChairmanSanchez]

Chairman Sanchez says Sanders needs to get off his lazy bum and do it himself!

The problem there is that Sanders probably won't win, and then he'd be out of the Senate too. Other than that I would be with you a hundred per cent. Great Senator. Great guy, too. When I was growing up in Vermont he was already a living legend from his time as Mayor of Burlington even when he'd only racked up a few terms in the House. About the only modern Vermont politician who was any more the very definition of a freedom fighter was Fred Tuttle.

I disagree with Sanders on everything, but I love him still. He is the opposite of Ron Paul in a sense. He sticks to his convictions.

[specific_name]

A lot people on the left are pretty pissed at Obama, but the right has the whole populist thing going on for the most part. I can't see the Democrats out doing them, especially not through a primary challenge.

Sounds like Sanders is just expressing his serious dissatisfaction. That's fine with me, Sanders has a lot of integrity, he's been around and stuck to his positions. That's far more than I can say for Obama, a man I have respect for....but it's dwindling every day he sells out his base for Wall Street and some fair weather independents. He got elected because of the people he energized, first to beat Hillary and then in the general. Obama owes progressives big time.

[specific_name]

I disagree with Sanders on everything, but I love him still. He is the opposite of Ron Paul in a sense. He sticks to his convictions.

Sure thing. I have the same kind of respect for Ron Paul, he's talked the talk and walked the walk. The general feeling of frustration we have today (both right and left) is because neither party has shown any willingness to confront Wall Street or truly fight for the bulk of the working population.

[asexual trans victimologist]

I disagree with Sanders on everything, but I love him still. He is the opposite of Ron Paul in a sense. He sticks to his convictions.

Switch Sanders's and Paul's names there and I agree verbatim. If somebody like Paul could start some robust and electable paleocon (or even actually prinicipled neocon) outfit in Texas or somewhere that was anything like what Sanders did for Vermont when he helped found the Liberty Union Party (now doing business as the Vermont Progressive Party in all but name), I think that the political discourse would benefit tremendously.