Note: This is a response to “How do we respond to Obama?” by Bill Fletcher, Jr.

It's nice to see Bill Fletcher start to wake up. Unfortunately, he's still has a long way to go.  Maybe he's still groggy.

Fletcher's main problem is that he's no longer a radical, but a reformist.  He demonstrates this by his rejection of more radical strategies without even considering them - the true hallmark of all reformists.

As has often been said, insanity is continuing to do the same thing, while expecting different results.  Put another way, if progressives don't think outside of the box, we will stay trapped in the box.

Fletcher's strategy requires remaining within the political orbit of the Democratic Party.  He ignores the alternative left parties, such as the Green Party, Socialist Party, and the California Peace & Freedom Party.  In my view, it's a strategy that is akin to trying to walk a great distance on only one leg and with no crutch.  You might hop around a while, you might make a little progress, then again you might not, and eventually you will fail to get to where you want to go.

My argument is not that all progressives should jump to a left third party.  Reality is too complex, and the U. S. left too organizationally and politically undeveloped, for that.  Instead, we need a balanced electoral approach that operates both inside and outside the orbit of the Democrats.  Fletcher almost completely ignores the outside piece.

Even worse, Fletcher also ignores the possibility of running a strong progressive against Pres. Obama in the Democratic Primary.  Why?  There was a challenge to Pres. Clinton in the Democratic Primary when he ran for re-election by Senator Bill Bradley.  I wouldn't describe Bradley as a progressive, but a number of progressives, and even socialists, such as Dr. Cornell West, did support him.  Bradley's campaign did not prevent Pres. Clinton from being re-elected.

Pres. Clinton and Secretary Clinton are politically indistinguishable from Pres. Obama.  So why shouldn't the left challenge Pres. Obama in the primary?  Fletcher does argue for progressive Democrats to challenge centrist and Blue Dog Democrats in Congressional elections - so why not challenge the centrist in the Oval Office?

I suggest that those progressives and socialists whom, for all kinds of reasons, good and not so good, work within the political orbit of the Democratic Party, should be doing their best to find a good candidate to challenge Pres. Obama in the primary.  Someone like the Representative of the district I live in, Rep. Barbara Lee, would be perfect.

Fletcher's strategy of working to elect progressives to Congress is little better, but not much.  Realistically, how many progressives do you think can win primaries in districts currently represented by centrist or Blue Dog Democrats, and then beat the Republican candidate in the general election?  Will Fletcher argue that we should challenge those Congress people who are already members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus with candidates that are further to the left?  I doubt it.

So what we're left with of Fletcher's strategy is to challenge centrist and Blue Dog Democrats in primaries, knowing that they are unlikely to win those primaries, let alone the general elections.  This isn't a bad idea, in fact it's a good one.  it's just not likely to result in the election of many more progressives to Congress.

For those of us who already focus on electoral work primarily outside the political orbit of the Democratic Party we need to stay the course and keep building credible alternatives as best we can.

One reason for this is that Pres. Obama can take the left of his party for granted is that there are, for the most part, no credible alternatives on the left.  Another reason is that we can expect an up tic in support for left third parties in 2012.  This will likely happen, because the Democrats have once again have revealed their true selves by holding the presidency, and for a year, even simultaneously holding both houses of Congress.

There is considerable historical president for this.  When Pres. Carter ran for re-election, the Citizen's Party was formed in a surge of such left third party support.  The same thing happened when Pres. Clinton ran for re-election.  Green Party candidate Ralph Nader received the highest number of votes for a third party since Eugene V. Debs, and consistently polled in double digits prior to election day.

The Green Party was blessed in 2008 with the candidacy of Cynthia McKinney.  McKinney was a credible candidate, having been elected to multiple terms in Congress.  She had been a Democrat, but abandoned the Democratic Party stating plainly, "I'm tired a being a member of a party that can't."  Unfortunately, 2008 was not an election year when progressives were looking outside of the Democratic Party.  Greens would be lucky to get McKinney to run again, or to find a candidate as good.

Ralph Nader was a credible independent candidate in 2008, but suffered the same fate as McKinney for largely the same reason.

I haven't addressed here the non-electoral aspects of Fletcher's proposed strategy, which I have much less disagreement with.

If progressives as a whole follow the electoral portions of Fletcher's strategy, there will be some opportunities to build grassroots support for progressive candidates in some districts, and maybe to elect a few more progressive Democrats and that's about the most we can expect from that strategy.  If we follow a balanced inside and outside strategy like the one I propose we can accomplish what Fletcher's strategy can, and continue to build independent progressive/left parties as alternatives, while having many more candidates that articulate strong progressive positions on the issues in general elections, not just in Democratic primaries.

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BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator Jonathan Nack is an activist in Oakland, CA and a member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism (CCDS).  Click here to contact Mr. Nack.