"...Progressives Should Run Against Obama and 'Blue Dogs' in the 2012 Democratic Party Primaries"

Rabbi Michael Lerner:

The big mistake we made in 2007 and 2008 was to have a candidate before we had a movement and platform to which we could hold the candidate. Repeating the errors of the previous decades, many of us fell into the "identity politics" trap -- we wanted Obama or Clinton not because they articulated a clear and detailed progressive agenda, but because of their race or gender.

We soon found out what a huge mistake that was. So if we are going to develop a challenge to Obama in 2012, we must start with a platform and worldview, not with the choice of another "dream candidate." Yet that platform and worldview has to avoid the clichés of the past and speak in a language that touches people's hearts and yearnings even as it is progressive and populist. MORE...

Howie P.S.: I'll be amazed if this happens, but it would be the right way to proceed. That way, whether or not the effort ultimately results in another candidate, a constituency for our "progressive" positions would be developed.