Voting Green is not an option. Voting green in 2000 did not elect a green candidate. It elected George W. Bush, and started a war, and was responsible for innumerable setbacks on the environmental front.
I agree about the potential Dem candidates, but can't really see another way at this point. I wish I shared topspin's view about Clinton's potential effect on the economy, which has no basis whatsoever in reality, unfortunately...
Voting Green may not be an option for you but it most certainly is for me. What (s)elected Bush in 2000 was democratic incompetence. You can bet that republicans would have never stood still for the disenfranchisement of a large number of their voters as the democrats did, nor would they have allowed democratic operatives to burst in and demand a change of rules, not to mention Gore's timidity during the campaign and his selection of Lieberman as a running mate.
THEN, what (s)elected Bush in 2004 was democratic incompetence and the fraud of electronic voting, which democrats never addressed. Activist citizens had to do their work for them and now nearly every state has legislation to address electronic voting fraud. In Florida, they've thrown the machines out. Democrats sat on their asses and allowed the fraud to select Bush again. Republicans would have NEVER allowed democratic owned and operated voting machine vendors to be the sole proprietor of the vote.
The notion that citizens owe their votes to a weak ass Democratic Party is silly. Either they earn the vote or they don't. With your logic why not blame republicans for not voting for democrats? Why not blame libertarians or members of the Constitution Party for not voting for democrats?
Remember ABB? .. what a resounding success that was.
I believe that Americans need to find a way out of the two-party-same-party trap we find ourselves in, but that will never happen as long as voters are too timid/trapped/intimidated to support other political parties.
"It started a war" .. you must be joking. Many democrats, including almost every one of them running for president, went right along with the fake ass war even though the dead could see that it was contrived and unnecessary. NO GREEN POLITICIAN would have supported that horror. Blaming democratic timidity and cowardice on Greens is exactly why the Democratic Party takes you for granted.
Look no further than the failure of the democratic congress today whose poll numbers are constantly sinking along with those of Pelosi. If the Democratic Party doesn't deliver a candidate and platform I can support, I'm going to vote Green with a platform I support 250%.
You can remain trapped if you choose.