Dump Obama

When I hear people make excuses for Obama's abandonment of the principles he campaigned on when seeking his first term, I am reminded of abuse victims. “It isn't really his fault.” “He's really a nice guy.” “You just don't understand – it's complicated.” “It's not really that bad, he could have hit me harder.” “He promised not to do it again.”

No president is going to be able to deliver on all his promises. Every president will occasionally disappoint. But with Obama, the pattern of betrayal is so consistent and unnecessary that it must be recognized for what it is – abuse. The man simply isn't who he pretends to be, and he isn't good for us. We would be better off without him.

Like other victims of abuse, a lot of Democrats are having trouble seeing that there is a solution to their problem. They don't have to keep supporting and enabling Obama, just to avoid being treated even worse by Romney. All that Democrats have to do is not nominate Obama at their convention. They can tell him it's time for him to pack his bags and go.

The rules of the convention might pose a challenge, to the extent that delegates are committed to Obama. But if enough opposition to Obama is raised, no set of rules could keep the convention from nominating someone else. Rules can be changed, and the people at the convention would find a way to do what they think is necessary. They don't want to lose the election.

Who else could run and win? In a country of 300 million people, if there aren't at least a few hundred people who are capable of being president, we are in worse shape than anyone imagines. As soon as people see that the convention is ready to dump Obama, plenty of prospects will emerge.

There really aren't many good reasons to nominate Obama for reelection. Hardly anyone thinks he has done a very good job or would do better in a second term. Even the bankers and financiers who are contributing so much money to his campaign would be happier with a Republican.

Probably the biggest obstacle to replacing Obama on the ticket is that it would make the Democrats look like they are admitting that they made a mistake in nominating Obama in the first place. I don't think that would be a surprise to many people. But the embarrassment the Democratic party would suffer if they dumped Obama would be much less than the embarrassment they will face if they re-nominate him and he loses to someone as insignificant as Romney.

The Democrats wouldn't really have to admit that it was a mistake to pick Obama in 2008, because back then it wasn't obvious that he would abuse the people who were supporting him. He talked a good game, and he seemed credible. And besides, the Republicans deserve some of the blame for Obama's election. They nominated Palin and McCain, leaving the country very little choice other than electing Obama.

It will be difficult to convince a lot of Democratic delegates to nominate someone other than Obama. But it is not an impossible task. Deep down, they know that Obama will never change. They know that four more years of him as President will be just as dispiriting as the past few years have been. They just need to realize that their only hope is to take control of the situation and make things better for themselves and the rest of the country.