As a proud, and hopelessly optimistic, member of the Dump Obama movement, I must say this is a promising development:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was dealt a humiliating defeat Sunday when voters booted her party from power in a state election that could bode ill for her leadership on the national stage.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats had governed the affluent southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg without interruption for nearly 60 years. But anger over her government’s policy on nuclear power and an ineffective campaign by the local party led voters to deprive conservatives of enough seats to form another ruling coalition in the state assembly, according to projected vote tallies Sunday evening.

Instead, the Green Party is poised to capture its first governorship in Germany. Although the Greens received a smaller share of the vote than the Christian Democrats, the environmental party performed best of the left-leaning groups and holds the strongest claim to head the new government.

“We have secured what amounts to a historic electoral victory,” Winfried Kretschmann, the Greens’ leader in the state, told party members in Stuttgart, the state capital.

Fringe Party No More

This was a key regional election, and the center-right party whiffed it; badly. There was another election today in the western portion of the country, and though the center-right still held control, the Greens’ power & clout have grown. I know, it’s is too early to read into this, particularly as it relates to US politics.
But it certainly isn’t a bad thing. Especially since the Greens in Germany were once considered a fringe party. There is hope for us; Winfried Kretschmann is likely to be the first Green state premier (governor) in Germany’s history.

Weakness Begets Weakness, Strength Begets Strength

Barack Hussein Simpson vs. the Greens, bitches.

These should be rules one & two of the Dump Obama movement: weakness begets weakness & strength begets strength.

We’ve seen an awakening on the left lately; in Germany it was spurred by Japan’s nuclear crisis, in the US it is the right’s power grabs at the state level. Clearly one side has the momentum, and the other does not. Let’s use it.

Dump Merkel, then Dump Obama

The Dump Merkel movement has begun; though she is not likely to lose power, her power has been weakened. That is step one of the left gaining control.

We should learn from this.

The Dump Obama movement does not necessarily need the Greens, or vice versa. (Hell, neither really needs to win; we just need to alter the debate.) But it is in both’s interests to work together.

The labor movement, however, has been spurned by the Dems’ leadership over and over again.

They should learn from this.

If the three of us (DO, Greens, Labor) work together, interesting things could potentially happen.

Let’s do this.