Why doesn’t Ralph Nader just go away? According to ABC News:
Nader earlier today told the Rocky Mountain News Obama is trying to “talk white”… He also said Obama wants to show he’s not “another politically threatening African-American politician. He wants to appeal to white guilt.”
Hey, Ralph Nader. You know who doesn’t have the right to tell a black guy how black people are supposed to talk? You.
(Obama camp’s response is here.)
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Because an old white guy is totally the expert when it comes to things like that. Oy.
*headdesk*
“Oy”? I’ll assume you’re White. I don’t know about Ashley but just one damn minute before you tear into an Arab-American. I find that highly offensive. It’s exactly this White b.s. that needs to be called out. And it’s exactly this White b.s. that is going to drive me away from my past support of Barack Obama and over to voting for Cynthia McKinney in November. That would be the only Black candidate in the race. Barack’s attack on Black fathers, as the great Michael Eric Dyson outlined, was filled with stereotypes. And other than Dyson, did anyone call him out? I didn’t see it. I’m real sick of it. Ralph Nader raised issues I care about (I will not vote for Ralph) and issues that effect my community. Barack needs to respond with something more than insults. Barack needs to start responding to the Black community’s needs and we need to stop rushing to his rescue until he does. I’ll still be Black after the election and I’m not going to sell out Rosa, MLK and everyone who came before just so Barack can get into the White House. He’s giving nothing to the community and this should be a wake up call. If he doesn’t start addressing the Black community’s needs real quick, Cynthia’s got my vote. Unlike Barack, I didn’t have White grandparents who could send me off to a posh prep school. Unlike Barack, I grew up in the community and our communities are dying. We don’t need more silence from him. We gave him our support, he either gives back or he loses my vote. Ralph Nader spoke the truth and all I’m seeing are a lot of little George W. Bushes attacking the Arab-American.
Not to defend the phrase he used (poor choice of words, certainly), I do think that Obama is definitely playing to corporate interests more than he did even in the beginning of his campaign and changing his stances to please corporations — for example, the recent switch on the communications bill which gave immunity to the phone companies. He switched from saying he was going to filibuster the bill to voting FOR the bill.
And, Nader isn’t white. He’s Lebanese. Both of his parents are immigrants from Lebanon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_nader#Background_and_early_career)
Interesting that the politicians that have said the most egregious shit so far are supposed liberals. I’m not sure if conservatives are on their best behaviour this year, or if they’re just warming up for the big racist guns.
Keesha, I don’t know how to answer your question about whether I am white. Yes, but it depends?
Anyway, regardless of what one thinks of Obama’s platform, I think it is inappropriate for anyone of any ethnicity, particularly someone who is not black, to try to tell the world what it means to “talk black.” Nader’s statement was racist.
I won’t get into the complexities of white privilege vs. experience of oppression when people alternately perceive you and/or your family as white or POC. Or the complexities of racism between various groups of POC. Or the situational nature of privilege. Suffice it to say, I think Nader has enough privilege in this situation that he should shut the hell up.
As for protest votes… Grumble grumble. I’m not a fan of protest votes. Voting is something that is best done strategically, in my view. That means I vote for the best possible candidate who can actually win a given race. Ironically enough, I learned this from Ralph Nader.
Cynthia’s got my vote.
Unfortunately we don’t have proportional representation in this country. I wish we did, it seems to have worked out quite well in the EU. Here it’s winner take all and there is no second place let alone third. I wish it were otherwise but them’s the facts.
Though I won’t go so far as to “hate” him, I’ve had nothing, but deep contempt for him since I was an undergrad in the mid-late 1990s.
There was a controversy among some of us on campus due to the fact the local PIRG felt entitled to automatically tack on their fee to our tuition bills which assumed our consent unless we went through the trouble to opt out. When he came to our campus to give a speech and to defend that automatic fee….I lost what respect I once had for him as a consumer advocate as he came across in that defense as an overentitled sleazy telemarketer attempting to justify a dubious product/deal.
The fact he was later supported by GOP members in his Presidential runs added to that contempt……he’s a sleazy self-aggrandizing tool who should retire before he does something to further to undermine the legacy of his past consumer advocacy work.
Obama is for Obama and nobody else. Although I voted for Obama in Feb, I would not vote for him in the general election. He apparently for conservative and corporate interests and not to mention FISA. Now that he thinks he has his base, he’s telling us to f-off so he can get conservative and moderate votes. I’d prefer McCain now any day.
I am the co-filmmaker of Howard Zinn: You Can’t be Neutral on a Moving Train and while I was getting my PhD at Bowling Green State University my good friend , who is black, told me a story about Nader. It seems he went up to shake his hand while he was in Washington and Nader saw this large black man walking toward him and ran across the street. Nader is a racist who has never been supportive of black people. Anyone who sees a black man, this was in Georgetown mnd you, and acts as he does is nothing more than a liberal cracker.
Look, if Nader had attacked Obama for not safeguarding progressive values, I wouldn’t have a problem with that. It’s an arguable point, but a fair one. It’s NOT cool for him to accuse Obama of “talking white” – this is a line of attack that would not be available to Nader if Obama were not half black, so it can fairly be considered a racial attack. As a progressive Nader should know better.
This past weekend when I was out walking my dogs, a guy approached me with a clipboard and asked me if I’d be willing to sign a petition to get an independent presidential candidate on the ballot. I asked who, and he said Ralph Nader. I said “Thanks, but no thanks” and kept walking.
Despite being a lifelong Democrat, I agree in principle that there should be more than just two dominant political parties in this country, and if it had been ANYONE else, I probably would’ve signed the petition. But I’m tired of Nader and his attitude. It’s been decades since he contributed anything of value to American politics or government, and over the last eight years he’s arguably done more harm than good to those causes he supposedly holds so dear. With these latest comments, he’s showing his true colors as someone who’s tone-deaf when it comes to American politics, and who seems to care very little whether progressive causes are actually furthered in this country.
What Nader is saying is true, and he should know since he is talking white too. Nader should stick to talking about Palestinians and the Iraq War and other mid-east topics since Arabs are only concerned with those things. You know, how black people only care about payday loans and poverty. I’m sure Keesha agrees with me.
Daily Kos has details on things Obama HAS done to help poor communities, in just the way Nader is claiming he hasn’t. Google is a great tool, you know.
I’d prefer McCain now any day. McCain is an insane, vicious warmonger who lost his last marble long ago. He would fuck this country in ways Bush has yet to even dream of. Obama, though not perfect, will at least begin the heavy task of cleaning the river of shit the GOP has left behind. I can’t imagine why any sane person would vote for four more years of Bush II and by the looks of the polls neither can anyone else.
Nader has a scheme for matching up disaffected Republicans with Democrats in order to minimize the damage his campaign does to either major party, which is thoughtful of him. Pity he didn’t try it in 2000.
Cracker? That’s offensive.
Let me get this straight: You don’t want a candidate who is moving from the left to the center, so instead you’ll vote for… the guy on the far right?
Genius.
Off topic, but I do not blame Nader at all for Bush’s victory in 2000. The number of Nader voters is vastly outnumbered by the people who did not bother to vote at all. Castigating the 3% of people who did vote for him, instead of the 40-50% who either didn’t or couldn’t show up to the polls, seems like it’s ignoring the really BIG problems we have in American democracy.
I wish Nader would STFU about how black people may or may not talk though. Ass.
Unfortunately, over the past 50 or so years, Nader has worked very hard to prove that he’s incapable of keeping quiet (whether he knows anything or not). Blaming him for Bush’s victory isn’t quite fair, but blaming him for the fact that so much of our energy comes from coal is more than accurate.
Blaming Nader for Bush taking Florida is definitely unfair.
fish vs shorebird file — part “Gators for Nader”
Thus, in a state where what party you belong to doesn’t say much about how you’ll vote in a presidential election it is very hard to then turn around and say that “Bush got 200,000 votes from registered Democrats”. So no, it isn’t Nader’s “fault” but on the other hand third parties in America act as spoilers and have zero power and always will unless we rewrite the constitution.
Just to clarify, I’m not castigating those who voted for Nader. I did vote for him, and I gave him money. That is why my feelings are so strong. I still feel betrayed by the guy.
I don’t think Nader can take all of the blame for 2000. Vote tampering by the Republicans, a fucked up media system, governmental corruption and lack of a collective sense of civic responsibility, among other things, were also important and I recognize that.
But he is a little responsible.
I could be wrong, but I think Lebanese people are technically considered “white,” as are Turks and Persians. This may have been determined during that board meeting held by the White Patriarchy in which they resolved to endow Italians and Irish people with the blessed “white” status too.
Anyway, I’ve always loved Nader and I think it’s unfair and disingenuous to blame him for the results of the 2000 (s)election. But his statement about “acting white” is heinous – I didn’t see that coming and am very disappointed in him for it.
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