L.A. Times: 'Lack of primary competition gives Obama an edge'

[Newsjock]

Source: Los Angeles Times

When President Obama swoops into Chicago on Air Force One to formally launch his reelection bid Thursday, his homecoming will have all the trappings of a celebrity event: high-dollar fundraisers at a pair of fancy restaurants, an adoring audience at a waterfront rally and an appearance by NBA star Derrick Rose.

But one of the president's biggest advantages as he seeks a second term will not be visible: the absence of any serious primary opposition. Incumbents forced to fend off a challenge within their own party tend to lose the November election (like Gerald R. Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992) or choose not to run at all (like Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968).

Spared fratricidal fighting, Obama is free to move toward the political center and target the independent voters crucial to victory. Meantime, his Republican rivals must move right to win their party's nomination, then hope to scamper back toward the center in time for the fall campaign.

... The president's political strategists reject the notion of any calculated move to the middle, pointing out, for instance, Obama's stated support for deficit reduction during the 2008 campaign. In the interim, they say, he was forced to take dramatic steps — the $800-billion stimulus bill being the most conspicuous — to address the economic crisis he inherited.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-0414-obama-reelect-20110414,0,2730528.story

[FLAprogressive]

1. move toward the center? More BS right-wing framing.

[ClarkUSA]

2. LAT is corporate MSM drivel. Pres. Obama's budget speech was a liberal battle cry.

They must've missed that. :sarcasm:

It's clear the MSM media whores are praying for a primary challenge to Pres. Obama.

[dflprincess]

3. He'd have to take a hard left to get anywhere near the center. n/t

[somone]

4. He was a freakin' leftist all this time?

[Recursion]

6. Outside of the DU echo chamber, yes

Freepers used to call W a liberal, remember.

[zbdent]

5. Did the L.A. Times complain when Bush was unopposed in the 2004 primaries?

And how many people now claim they were not falling all over him in worship?

[Recursion]

7. I don't see them complaining now, either

It's a process piece, which politicians always hate, but it's hardly a hit job.