Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell said last week on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that it is not impossible to imagine a primary challenge to President Obama in 2012 from an anti-war progressive who opposes the administration’s policy in Afghanistan. A spokesman for Rendell clarified the governor’s remarks to The Daily Caller saying that such a challenge would only come from a candidate from the “left fringe” of the Democratic Party.
Though no one has yet suggested they would throw their hat into the ring to challenge Obama in 2012, we at The Daily Caller have come up with our own list of four potential intraparty insurgents:
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
The leftwing Ohio congressman ran quixotic presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008 and is ardently opposed to the surge in Afghanistan. He may be one of the few Democrats who would seriously consider challenging Obama in 2012. After all, how else could the UFO-seeing, former “boy mayor” of Cleveland grasp any shred of relevancy?
Former President Jimmy Carter
A sprightly 85, Carter still has another term of eligibility. What’s more, for some, Obama’s handling of the economy may have done the impossible and made the Carter years look pretty good comparatively. And the campaign slogan is irresistible: “Four More Years of Malaise!”
Rev. Jeremiah Wright
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama threw his long time pastor and confidante under the bus, disassociating himself with the fiery reverend who famously asked the Almighty to “damn America” in a sermon. The radically leftwing Wright is no doubt disillusioned with Obama’s surge in Afghanistan, and may be still embittered at Obama’s public flogging of him in 2008. You might say that a primary challenge by Wright would amount to Obama’s chickens coming home to roost.
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Could there be a better storyline? Think about it: An exonerated Blagojevich challenges his former constituent — who refused to offer any assistance or kind words of encouragement during his trial — over what he considers an inadequately liberal health care bill and an inordinately hawkish foreign policy. Americans love redemption tales. The return of Blago would be hard to top.