Yesterday, Ralph Nader accused Barack Obama of "talking white". He said that Obama appears to be distancing himself from issues that directly effect the black community (and, in reality, every community) such as predatory lending (something that I have felt strongly about for a long time) and the corporate greed that subsequently creates ghettos and keeps them that way.The controversy police jumped all over Nader, just as they did with Don Imus the day before. To make matters worse, Obama (who campaigned and worked hard for the moratorium on the Death Penalty in his home state of Illinois) said that he favors the death penalty for some child rapists (WTF?). This was clearly a sign of pandering to the conservative crowd. Now, the things Ralph Nader said probably will anger some but, if we look at how things in this campaign have gone in the last few weeks, it does bare him out a little. From Obama's chastising delinquent black fathers at a black mega church to this... I have been sitting back and watching and remaining silent.
Barack Obama is a politician and let's all remember that. He's not Jesus... he's not the savior and whether he is elected or not, he is going to have to play by a whole new set of rules that even he is not going to be accustomed to playing by. He's black... he's never going to be able to get past that and unlike Clinton, Edwards, Kerry, McCain, or whomever, he is always going to carry that extra burden. It's always going to come up. America can't help it... it's obsessed with race. He is going to have to walk the same tightline that every black person in America walks of being black but, not TOO black when dealing with white America lest we sacrifice our "rapid "move up the ladder.He is inexperienced... that's not a knock, that's the truth. Bill Clinton was inexperienced too when he entered the White House and he got a very rude awakening from Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, and a very hostile Republican Congress. If Barack Obama wins the election, he will have the advantage of having a Democratic Congress but, he's still going to get a rude awakening Washington D.C. is a rough town. I don't envy him.
He's already bending and flip-flopping on some of his long held beliefs and positions and he hasn't gotten to Washington yet. He wants to win. I understand that and in order to win, he's got to be a politician (whether he thinks he is or not).
He's saying he's about change and that he's not going to be about business as usual but, the reality is he's entering into a game that is rigged. He can only hope to make some of the changes he talks about. He's going to have to compromise more than he'll probably want to but, this is the game and reality of the system. The game is rigged... play or get played. If he is fortunate enough to get a second term (and that would be historical) then, he can play the lame duck president and stand on his bully pulpit and force through the change he is talking about right now. He'll have nothing to lose.
Here are Nader's actual remarks from yesterday. You decide for yourself if you think anything he said was wrong.
"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate... he's half African-American". Nader said in what the Denver newspaper described as a wide-ranging interview... "Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Pay day loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead, etc. What's keeping him from doing so? Is it because he wants to talk white?"
Nader added, "I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be doing is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities, and the rural areas. Well, we haven't heard a thing.
"Obama wants to show that he is not another politically threatening African-American politician," Nader said."He wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as, "'black is beautiful, "black is powerful.' Basically, he's coming across as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it's corporate or whether it's simply oligarchic. And, they love it... whites just eat it up!"
3 comments:
Well, Keith I always have a problem when ANYONE tries to define blackness and even more so when it’s someone who isn’t black. Black is black weather you are Malcolm or Condoleezza.
Look the fact is politically Obama is a moderate. He’s never been any more or any less. The fact that he and Hillary’s platform differed so little speaks to that. Clinton was the ultimate moderate. Nader is very far to the left. And really socially if you lined up views many blacks would agree with many of Naders views not so much on the religious front, as you know we tend to line up more with the right wingers on that. I am speaking in general terms so please don’t think I think of blacks as the homogeneous blob of thought.
I think some Obama supports thought Obama was this radical thinking talking black man. Really he isn’t.
As I commented on a blog the other day my support of Obama goes like this. Why not give someone different a chance to do something in white house. I mean after all he can’t mess it up anymore than W has already.
Obama has a different path and life than any other presidential candidate he is of mixed heritage, has a black wife, identifies himself as a black man, has an Asian sister, spent time being raised on foreign grown and was raised off of the mainland. However he is a moderate democrat. And from my short experience in politics the moderate political figures are usually able to create the most change. Clinton was able to institute welfare reform. (not going into that just using it as an example). Clinton was able to change quite a few things because he was not extreme. I think most Americans black and white are moderate like Obama in their politics. He is not a black president in the sense he’s gonna fly into the white house in a cape and save us all from “the man”. If you believe that as a black person that you have a rude awakening (that’s a metaphorical you, not a you …you).
The sad thing is I think and believe many blacks think that Obama is a magic pill, he is only a man who wants to try he his hand at running this land. That’s it I hope he allowd a lot of issues that were not normally thought about, besides giving a pound, to infiltrate the minds of white America. Other than that, I just hope he is can be a good President. Face it this mess that W has made is not going to be cleaned up in 1 or 2 terms. I only hope we can just turn the boat around in the next 4-8 years. Sure Nader has great points but there are other priorities that need to be address, Barry will not just be representing black folks he will be representing us all.
The child rapist thing I think I see where he is going with that, its not a crime that is historical used to kill black men and I believe he fought for the ban on death row because it was showing to be racially biased in it’s application, not because he was opposed to the death penatly.
On the public finance I don’t know if that’s so much a flip flop. I think he is being supported by lots of $25 donations and when he signed that I don’t think he had any idea how much of a hold his grass root campaign would be, and he said on several times he would want to revisit that if he became the nominee because even then he saw his support. So that decision to me, its one of those things where I see why he decided to go with private finance. The problem is the Republicans can’t raise ANYWHERE near what he is getting and the thing is it really is a campaign built on small donations from people who want to be a part of something different.
Good post thanks for sharing.
-OG
Ralph Nader smells like day-old pig feet. And his rhetoric stinks too.
But at least he's been reading my blog! However, I have since decided to leave Obama alone and announce my endorsement for him in a surprise post next month. (Oh well, It's not a surprise anymore to those who visit your blog as well).
Great post, Keith! You speak completely in TRUTH and Truth has set us free! Hallelujah!
im with og on this one
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