Nader Says Obama Is "Talking White"

Alan Stewart Carl, a moderate blogger, writes about Ralph Nader's gaffe: "In a long interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Ralph Nader accused Barack Obama of downplaying issues of poverty, 'talking white' to win votes and appealing to 'white guilt.' Now, I’m not going to write the usual 'oh my God, he’s so racist!' post because in no way is Nader implying Obama is inferior because of his skin color. Nor is he delivering some kind of coded message meant to scare off non-black voters. But Nader is being foolish. Leaving aside whether or not Obama is adequately addressing issues of poverty, a candidate’s skin color in no way obligates him or her to address any specific issue. We don’t expect John McCain to focus more on Appalachian issues just because McCain is of Irish ancestry and so are many Appalachian residents. Why should Obama be expected to base his campaign on inner city issues? Single issue candidates don’t win presidential elections. That’s a truth of which Nader should be well aware. Yet again, Nader is revealing the kind of narrow view that has led him to mount increasingly frivolous and arrogant campaigns. In 2000, his voice served a purpose. In 2008, he’s become a mosquito."

My response: As I commented yesterday, of course in Mr. Nader's mind black = poor. Never mind that 74% of black Americans are not poor...and most black Americans haven't been poor since the 1960s. Perhaps Mr. Nader hasn't heard Sen. Obama talk about these issues, because Sen. Obama is aware of the social class diversity and progress in Black America. Last night, I was discussing this very topic with a black liberal guy from Denver who was visiting Chicago. Although we are ideologically different, we both agreed that Mr. Nader was out of order on this one. Who is Nader to tell any black politician what constitutes appropriate issues for a black politician to address? You know, perhaps I should accuse Mr. Nader of "talking white", because he focuses so much attention on socialism and so little attention on Arab issues (he is of Lebanese Catholic ancestry). There ya go.