{"id":2538,"date":"2011-10-05T07:36:38","date_gmt":"2011-10-05T12:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=2538"},"modified":"2011-10-05T07:36:38","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T12:36:38","slug":"political-hostage-taking-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=2538","title":{"rendered":"Political Hostage Taking 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have had this conversation before and it really does seem that my fellow progressives are just not getting it. Now that Chris Christie has made it clear that he is NOT running for President in 2012 and Rick Perry has fallen out of favor with both the Republican establishment and the Religious Right, it is pretty clear that Romney will be the Republican candidate in 2012. This puts Obama in a difficult spot.<\/p>\n

According to David Axelrod, Obama\u2019s re-election strategy is to make it clear that progressives can either vote for Obama or vote for the insane Republican candidate. This however is not a solid strategy if Romney is the candidate. Romney is a super corporatist candidate, but Obama isn\u2019t much better. Romney isn\u2019t as insane as Perry or Bachmann either. Most moderates realize that Romney is actually pretty liberal on many issues, but that in order to win the nomination he has to appeal to the wackos.<\/p>\n

Romney\u2019s record isn\u2019t really crazy. Sure there are tons of areas that progressive do and should disagree with him about, but rhetoric aside, moderates kind of like him and few are really scared that he will blow up the planet because of some ridiculous religious belief. He could be President and the world won\u2019t come to an end. Sure it would be worse, but it wouldn\u2019t be the end of the world.<\/p>\n

Now Obama will need every vote he can get. He will need his base which has become pretty disillusioned with him as of late. Personally, I think this is a great thing. Based on Obama\u2019s record, in 2012 he is going to try to appease someone. He is either going to try to appease the right or he is going to try to appease his base. Up until now, his strategy has been to appease the right and give his base the choice of the insane Republican or him. Now, he can\u2019t use that strategy so he might actually try to appease his progressive base.<\/p>\n

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