Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich (left) of Ohio has been harshly critical of the Obama administration as of late, and is now advocating a challenge to President Obama in a primary. According to Kucinich, such an endeavor would likely turn Obama into a better president.
Kucinich said on CNN:
Can I see someone coming forward to challenge President Obama from the ranks of the Democratic Party? I suppose it’s possible. There again, it’s going to be about the economy, and that’s what it should be about. We have to get America back to work. And frankly, we have to stop wasting money on these wars that’s causing us to be able to lose the resources we need to focus money at home. So should President Obama have a challenge? I say he should. I think it would make him a better president if he received a Democratic challenge in the Democratic primary. Will I be that candidate? No.
Obama has clearly ostracized some of his supporters, and the most recent assertion by Kucinich is just one of a number of examples of Obama losing his base.
Kucinich has served in the United States House of Representatives for eight terms and has been dubbed as the voice for the most liberal faction of the Democratic Party, though the term “liberal” seems to have lost some of its meaning.
For example, Kucinich sued the White House for embarking on unilateral action in Libya without a declaration of war from Congress, an position that is not so much liberal as it is constitutionalist in nature.
Then again, GOP Presidential contender Ron Paul has been labeled as an extremist because of his championing of strict constructionist constitutional philosophies, so there appears to be a trend taking place.
Both Kucinich and Paul, along with eight other Representatives in the House, targeted Obama’s lack of regard for the Constitution when he elected to take military action in Libya without congressional approval.
“With regard to the war in Libya, we believe that the law was violated. We have asked the courts to move to protect the American people from the results of thee illegal policies,” said Kucinich when he announced that the 10-member anti-war coalition would be filing the lawsuit against the Obama administration.
Months later, Kucinich asserts that a challenge to the presidency would force Obama to improve his performance. Kucinich is not the first to tout this theory. Following the debt deal, Ralph Nader, most known for appearing as a third-party presidential candidate, announced in July that he would do his best to find a Democrat to challenge President Obama in 2012. “What Obama did this week is just going to energize that effort,” Nader said. “I would guess that the chances of there being a challenge to Obama in the primary are almost 100 percent.” According to Nader, the only question that remains is the “stature of the opponent” — whether it would be an “ex-senator or an ex-governor, an intellectual leader or an environmental leader.”
Nader was staunchly opposed to the debt ceiling compromise struck between the Obama administration and Republicans.
“He made a deal that did not provide for a public works project to create jobs all over the country. All he did was agreed to cut spending. And that’s what the market is reacting to,” asserts Nader. “President Obama shouldn’t have even had that problem. When he surrendered the continuation of tax cuts for the rich last December, the least he could have gotten was the debt ceiling increased. He didn’t even do that. So he set himself up for this hostage situation by the Republicans and it’s his own fault. And the country and the workers are paying the price.”
