The Whitest Of White Guys Accuses Obama Of Not Being Black Enough

I'm not normally someone who writes about race-related issues (something about not being black and not caring if someone else is or isn't), but sometimes something happens that just cries out for a response...

I suppose we should thank Ralph Nader for his attempt to make sure that he doesn't pull enough Democratic votes away from Senator Obama to cause a repeat of 2000's debacle in Florida, but something tells me that Nader's interview with the Rocky Mountain News wasn't intended as a selfless attempt to end his viability as a third party candidate who could garner protest votes from Dems who believe that Barack Obama isn't progressive enough.

Nope, it really seems more to be the attention-getting stunt of an inveterate egomaniac.

Much of that interview (partial transcript here) consisted of Nader opining that Obama isn't progressive, or is too corporate, etc. However, that sort of talk doesn't get the level of attention that Nader needs and craves.

So he resorted to rhetorical bomb-throwing, by talking about Obama appealing to "white guilt" and "talking white." He also accused Obama of neglecting the inner-city poor in his quest for the White House.

It's bad enough that in this "modern" day and age, the GOP is still going after a candidate because of his skin color (the infamous pins sold at the Texas GOP's state convention, for example), but as with the FISA bill last week, the Republican Party is benefitting from low expectations.

They're expected to be bigots, and, rather consistently, they live down to those expectations.

Everybody, including the Obama campaign, knows what to expect from them and can prepare for it.

Nader, on the other hand, had built up an impressive resume of consumer and environmental activism. He was one of the "good" guys, until he decided to piss away his legacy.


BTW - my favorite part of Nader's comments was when he criticized Obama for not going after payday loan operations. That's a local issue mostly, or perhaps a state-level issue (licensing, etc.).

What's next? Griping that Obama hasn't done enough on zoning enforcement in Dubuque or Pocatello?


Somebody who Mr. Nader respects should sit him down and advise him to stick with consumer issues - he's good at them.

He's not so good at electoral politics.

Later!