Ralph Nader, “talking white.” [updated]
Ralph Nader is running for President again. I won’t go on here with the long version of my thoughts except to say that he keeps running, again and again but has never built a movement around him or used his campaigns to bolster a viable third party movement, which makes the runs feel relatively useless to me. I remember a room full of people cheering in Philadelphia in 2004 when they heard he was kept off the ballot; it was very sad and many of them were employed using the door to door canvass tactics that he practically invented, but still: I’m over him.
But yesterday Nader — who’s campaigns have never particularly focused on poverty or inner-city issues — had some really helpful things to say about clean, articulate Barack Obama:
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader accused Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic Party nominee, of downplaying poverty issues, trying to “talk white” and appealing to “white guilt” during his run for the White House.
Talk white? Are we doing this? I actually think if he wants to run, that’s fine — I think Gore narrowly won lost the 2000 race on his own and the “spoiler” idea is pretty silly in a democracy, but saying that Obama is trying to “talk white” is just stunningly tone-deaf and shows a total lack of comprehension of the racial politics at the heart of Obama’s campaign.
As for the white guilt … fine. What don’t I do that’s rooted solidly in soul-crushing shame and white guilt though? Sigh.
[Little update: Do take a spin through the comments; I did change the headline after some comments that it was offensive, which I didn’t intend. I still think that Nader’s comments about “talking white” are ridiculous and show that he is deeply out of touch, which I go on about at length in the comments section.
About The Author - Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. - Visit Ben's site.
This latest episodes reminds me of my Hampshire College days watching self-righteous suburban white kids dominate every conversations about race while their black classmates sat slumped in their chairs unable to get a word in edgewise.
When I saw this this morning and was pretty disappointed. I’ve always though Nader was a bit of a douche, but I’ve always viewed the idea of third party candidates as really important,.Even essential. The issue I have is that when Ralph Nader does it, he just comes of as a self centered schlameel.
It’s easy to make Ralph Nader sound crazy, but hard to make him come off as out of touch. Well, Obama communications director Robert Gibbs did just that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvJqxL4FvZk
how’s a white guy gonna accuse barack like that?!
…oh, ralph’s arab? i couldn’t tell–he looks and sounds so white.
This post is offensive. As a Black woman, I’ll be damned if an Arab-American is mocked with “very, deeply black.” I would love to know if Ben W is Black or White because I’m guessing he has to be White. Any Black person would grasp how offensive the title alone is. I’m a weak Barack Obama supporter and my support only gets weaker as he regularly runs from the Black community and regularly attacks it. Ralph Nader’s right. And Barack is biracial, not Black. Instead of trashing Nader, Barack should be addressing the very real problems in his campaign that Nader outlined. If he doesn’t, I’m voting Cynthia McKinney in November.
Barack Obama has spent his entire career addressing every single concern raised here. Ralph Nader? Not so much.
My apologies to Keesha if I offended. Frankly I’d forgotten (if I’d known to begin with) Ralph Nader’s own background. Also I do agree that I’d like any candidate to spend more time in inner city communities, more time talking about poverty and to do some of what Nader is talking about. However I WILL say that Nader doesn’t have the greatest track record dealing with race relations and poverty issues, so the headline was meant to poke at the implication that he’s someone who has been responsive to race over the years, because I don’t think he has. Also I still think that the idea Obama “talks white” is a pretty offensive and extremely outmoded way of thinking. I know Obama is a politician and not always entirely genuine, but I think he talks how he talks based on who he is. The way Obama talks as a calculated “talking white” I think is ridiculous.
But, I’m sorry I offended with the headline, which was probably not such great judgement on my part.
“…Barack is biracial, not Black.”
Really?!
I have a few friends who would LOVE to have you there to point out this subtle distinction next time they get pulled over in New Jersey.
the point i didn’t make, as well, is that Nader kept talking about how Obama is “trying not to be Jesse jackson” in some sort of duplicitous way. But the reality is that racial politics, and the racial justice movement, are different now than they were then. Nader is not the first to make the point that Obama is trying to “tone down” his inner-Sharpton as some sort of ploy to get elected. While I do believe that Obama is the beneficiary of Jackson/Sharpton/the civil rights movement, and this campaign is only possible as a point in that lineage, Nader’s assumption that Obama is “trying not to be like Jesse Jackson” shows that he doesn’t understand times have changed or that this is a new generation and era. It shows he’s out of touch.
The Nation weighed in on this issue in this issue. Thanks, Ben. I was a solid, Green-Nader voter in ‘00 and ‘08. It’s funny how your politics can change out of desperation. Am I a bad person for not voting for Nader in this election? Is it bad to bend your principles to get a shot at changing the world? If this is the case, then I submit that no man has ever been elected to the presidency without giving ground on the principles he held when younger or out of the political limelight. I can think of one man who does stand firm - Ralph Nader. And as much as I admire the guy for his propensity to speak truth and shake his fist, I can safely say that Mr. Nader will never, ever, ever be elected. Being able to compromise on the surface and play the cards close to your chest is probably the first and foremost skill a President must have, which may be a reason why Bush is so roundly despised these days. His dumb cards are drawn in crayon and tossed liberally around the table for everyone to see. I can only hope Barack has a very good hand and is a skillful player, as even the Nation is reporting on unsavory things he’s already doing. Not to burst the happy bubble of happiness, but Machiavelli and Keynes are the names of the game these days. Not John Muir or Martin Luther King.
Whoops - not ” ‘00 and ‘08″ but rather 2000 and 2004.