Nader On Obama -- Not The Man He Knew

For the record, Ralph Nader is a certifiable kook. His runs for president lead to late-night talk show jokes, and constant derision from Democrats. ABC News reports that he had some opinions about Senator Obama that many people have already brought up, but they are worth repeating:

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader ripped Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., on Wednesday, saying that the presumptive Democratic nominee would not make the kind of African-American president that he and other members of the civil rights movement worked to make possible.

"People who have fought the civil rights battle -- politically, economically, legally -- as we have since the 50's would often talk about, 'Look what would happen if we had an African-American president or chairpersons of major congressional committees,'" said Nader. "It doesn't look like it's going to be what we all thought it would be."

"I lost respect for him," Nader said of Obama "when I saw him over a year ago on C-SPAN vigorously opposed to the impeachment of Bush and Cheney -- vigorously opposed. He said it would be 'divisive'. That is a cop out word. We have the most multiply impeachable presidency in American history."

Nader made his comments at a breakfast with reporters in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. It was not the first time that the perennial presidential candidate has been critical of the Democrat who would be the nation's first African-American president. Back in June, in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Nader accused Obama of downplaying poverty issues, trying to "talk white" and appealing to "white guilt" during his run for the White House. ...

Nader portrayed Obama's recent softening of his opposition to off-shore drilling as part of a broader effort to blur his differences with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Nader charged that the "blurring" that Obama is engaged in would prove to be a "fatal mistake."

"That's part of his blurring," said Nader, referring to Obama's new stance on drilling. "His handlers said, 'McCain is scoring here.' So he blurs, he blurs."

To correct Mr. Nader, he is not "blurring" he is pandering. He has to pander to moderates, Independents, and even Republicans because he knows he cannot win with the Dukakis Coalition of "egg-heads and African-Americans." But he is correct to point out that Senator Obama is not the candidate that many had hoped he would be.

We can go through the long list of waffles he has made, or we can point to his condescending attitude. Either problem will dog him through the fall, and they will be his downfall. We have long maintained that Senator Obama will not win in November, and despite what his supporters will claim, it has little to do with his race. We could care less about that. We want a qualified person in the White House, and a man who has all of 143 days in the Senate hardly qualifies for that.

Despite Mr. Nader's idiocy when it comes to political issues (follow the link to the ABC piece to see where he stands on certain issues, and you will see what I mean) he is spot-on when it comes to Senator Obama's problems in this election. Of course, the Democrats could bail themselves out in August by not supporting Senator Obama. Of course that will never happen. The Democrats are married to this man, like it or not.

Marcie