“President Obama’s failure to stand his ground in ongoing negotiations with Republicans on key issues from taxes to jobless benefits has stirred howls of protest from many of his supporters on the left who are beginning to question the president’s leadership skills…

“Liberal economist Paul Krugman wrote in his New York Times column this week that Democrats will have to look elsewhere for leadership.

“‘It’s hard to escape the impression that Republicans have taken Mr. Obama’s measure – that they’re calling his bluff in the belief that he can be counted on to fold,’ he wrote. ‘And it’s also hard to escape the impression that they’re right.'”

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“What is the right strategy for Obama to regain the political initiative and put his presidency back on track? Should he hold firm, push a liberal agenda and provoke fights with the Republicans, as Truman did? That would reenergize his liberal base and sharpen his profile with the public.

“Or should he be a conciliator, as Clinton tried to be, cooperating when possible with congressional Republicans but resisting when he believes they have gone too far right? That might show the Republicans as obstructionists and bring independents back to his side heading toward 2012.

“Obama is now at the stage of redirecting his presidency. The negotiations in the lame-duck session over tax cuts, unemployment insurance and the New START treaty are mere prelude to the main events of next year. Obama’s next State of the Union address will mark the beginning of the next chapter. Between now and then he must decide what strategy he will employ to put that presidency back on track.”

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“The problem is that Democrats aren’t unified, and Obama lacks the 60 votes in the Senate to break a filibuster, so if he stands his ground, he’s likely to lose. During the campaign, Obama would look out at the huge crowds clamoring to see him and muse to aides that people were projecting too much on this guy named Obama, and he would wonder whether he could possibly be that guy. An adviser who worked on the campaign e-mailed me recently about his disappointment with Obama, saying that the president is ill-equipped psychologically for what it would take to be a hero, namely to slay a dragon: ‘He can’t slay anything, sadly, except the legacy of FDR.’

“Those words are disheartening, but they speak for many of Obama’s supporters, who want him to quit equivocating about everything—pick a side, pick a church, pound the table at least metaphorically, and belittle the opposition the way FDR did, reacting to partisan criticism like it’s a badge of honor. Obama has got so much to work with: it’s the Christmas season, and the GOP wants to cut off unemployment benefits while they hold the rest of the congressional agenda hostage to getting the tax cuts they want. Obama wants to be above politics, but now’s the time to get in the mosh pit and play politics as though his presidency depended on it—because it does.”

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“But there is a real way to save the Obama presidency: by challenging him in the 2012 presidential primaries with a candidate who would unequivocally commit to a well-defined progressive agenda and contrast it with the Obama administration’s policies. Such a candidacy would be pooh-poohed by the media, but if it gathered enough popular support – as is likely given the level of alienation among many who were the backbone of Obama’s 2008 success – this campaign would pressure Obama toward much more progressive positions and make him a more viable 2012 candidate. Far from weakening his chances for reelection, this kind of progressive primary challenge could save Obama if he moves in the desired direction. And if he holds firm to his current track, he’s a goner anyway…

“This policy platform must be matched with a willingness to talk unequivocally about the spiritual and ethical need for a new bottom line – one of love, kindness and generosity. We need a progressive push for a new New Deal, which in the 21st century could be the Caring Society: ‘Caring for Each Other and the Earth.’

“Public officials who would make excellent candidates should they run on this platform include Sens. Russ Feingold, Bernie Sanders, Barbara Mikulski or Al Franken; Reps. Joe Sestak, Maxine Waters, Raul Grijalva, Alan Grayson, Barbara Lee, Dennis Kucinich, Lois Capps, Jim Moran and Lynn Woolsey. Others include Jim McGovern, Marcy Kaptur, Jim McDermott or John Conyers. We should also consider popular figures outside of government. How about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.? Why not Rachel Maddow, Bill Moyers, Susan Sarandon or the Rev. James Forbes? All suggestions need to be part of this critical conversation. What’s clear is that we need such a candidate, and the finances to back her or him, very soon.”

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