Nader asks if Obama will be "Uncle Tom"

Amy Goodman.....Your thoughts on this election?


RALPH NADER: Thank you, Amy. Well, obviously we all congratulate Barack Obama. We wish him well. But the precursor to his election has not been very encouraging, and he has repeatedly taken up the positions of the corporate supremacists, not just his latest vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, but a whole string of votes and policy positions. He opposes single-payer health insurance. Well, the HMOs and the insurance companies do, too. He wants a bigger military budget. So does the military-industrial complex. His idea of a living wage on his website is $9.50 an hour by 2011. That would make it less than it was in 1968, adjusted for inflation.


He matched McCain in the third debate, belligerent—belligerency for belligerency, toward Russia, toward Iran, more soldiers in Afghanistan, supporting the Israeli military repression and occupation and blockade of Gaza and the West Bank. And virtually nothing about 100 million poor people in this country. That’s why I really fault him, that he played the Clinton linguistic game by talking constantly about the middle class and not mentioning the word “poor.”


And we expect more of him. And I don’t think he has a public philosophy of where corporations must operate in this country. How? Under what rule of law? Under what regulation? Under what vulnerability to litigation in the courts? He’s proud of tort reform, supports the nuclear industry, supports the coal industry. So we’re really talking about just more of the same, in terms of the corporate domination of Washington.


I detected no concern, no quaking of concern, among the drug industry, oil, gas industry, nuclear, coal industry, Wall Street, over his probable election in the last few weeks. Usually, when they’re really worried about a politician, they will issue warnings. But Barack Obama has raised far more money than John McCain from Wall Street interests, corporate interests and, above all, corporate lawyers. And the question to be asked is, why are they investing so much in Barack Obama? Because they believe he’s their man. So, prepare to be disappointed, but keep your hope up.

_outlaw wrote:

Some people complain about the biggest bullshit.

No, Fox was not being "fair" - they never really are "fair" but I'm not even going to get into that. People always love to ignore the big picture and focus on little bullshit like the fact that he said "Uncle Tom" (and I think it's pretty obvious he wasn't being racist, he was just using it as a parallel to Uncle Sam), rather than what his entire point was. For those too ignorant to get his point, it was that Obama has a choice to either be an "Uncle Sam" (who happens to be a tall white guy, but no one gets angry about his using this phrase) and appeal to the true parts of America and do some good, or an "Uncle Tom" and sell out to corporations. It was a VERY valid point, and the fact that some of you actually agree with Fox News' bullshit response to the quote is very sad, and quite absurd.

I respect the fact that Nader is one of the FEW people who is saying that it's not time to celebrate yet, Obama still has to make the choice for how he'll take his presidency. So far, it looks like it's going to shit.

Smartypants wrote:

On the other hand, Nader used the phrase "Uncle Tom" in exactly the manner that it's commonly understood. There's no miscommunication or alternate meanings here. Granted, it's current meaning has been twisted form Stowe's original character but I don't think anyone believes that that Nader was referring to Stowe's original character, do they? He was using it in its one and only current context which is:

"Uncle Tom is a pejorative for a black person who is perceived by others as behaving in a subservient manner to White American authority figures...It is commonly used to describe black people whose political views or allegiances are considered by their critics as detrimental to blacks as a group."

jimed14 wrote:

Shep Smith is becomming my favorite Fox news guy ... love his reaction ..

"really? ................ Ralph Nadar ........................... what was that?"


I am SO ficking glad I didn't vote for Nadar, what a fucking doosh.

You can make a point, but that's NOT the way to do it.

What a disrepectful mother fucker the day after the election.

Smartypants wrote:

Maybe he really does think it's a synonym for "sellout"

beachdweller wrote:

let Nadar say what he wants, he's irrelevant, a useless tool who thinks way to (sic) highly of himself, that's why no one listens, he's exlcusive, not inclusive.