Obama, you don't need to move to the center
Doing so is a travesty and a tragedy
Damned straight Nader is trying to get attention. Isn't that the name of the game? Exercising free speech is trying to get attention. It's what democracy is founded on. You're beginning to sound like Bill O'Reilly when someone gets his goat: shut up! shut up!
Let's look at what Nader has focused on:
Please spare us the "Nader is just an egoist" cannard. It's insulting. Nader is trying to get attention to issues you have ignored so that you can market a soothing image. These issues are not frivolous and ego-centered (your charge looks like projection; it's weak). They come from a love for the country and a distaste for politicians who facilitate its rape by an unaccountable financial and corporate elite.
If they want war, they get it, or at least line up for the spoils once the bombs start falling on civillians. If they want a new bubble -- the current one is oil trading -- they get it, nevermind the damage to the financially vulnerable.
It's easy if there is no accountability, and yet you have not stood up for accountability.
It's pretty simple. If we keep supporting politicians such as yourself who will not stand up for us (i.e. the majority of everyday working Americans) against an ever-increasing right-wing/corporatist/authoritarian government, then we are, as Glenn Reynolds opines, fundamentally unserious. Or perhaps, completely cowed by the right. I find either charge distasteful.
The upshot is a charade of an election in which you ride revulsion of the Republicans into office so you can hold it for a short period of time in order to keep the lid on.
If you tell me you can't do anything now, then when? Nothing has been done in my lifetime to stop the slide and I fail to see some mythical near future when things "change." Your governing style looks like a repeat of Bill Clinton, and while he did some decent things for the economy, his presidency led directly to where we are now.
So far, you are proving to be another fighter who leaves himself open to the right, not seeming to care that so many have put money on you. If you diss Ralph Nader and you fail to back up your rhetoric, then you are at some level the elitist (read: con artist) Karl Rove says you are, you are the empty speechmaker the right claims you are, and you are fundamentally unserious in holding out hope to your constituency.
Doing so is a travesty and a tragedy
"First of all, what's clear is Ralph Nader hasn't been paying attention to my speeches," Obama said. "Ralph Nader is trying to get attention. ... It's a shame, because if you look at his legacy in terms of consumer protection, it's an extraordinary one. But at this point, he's somebody who's trying to get attention."
-- USA Today
Damned straight Nader is trying to get attention. Isn't that the name of the game? Exercising free speech is trying to get attention. It's what democracy is founded on. You're beginning to sound like Bill O'Reilly when someone gets his goat: shut up! shut up!
Let's look at what Nader has focused on:
Adopt single payer national health insurance
Cut the huge, bloated, wasteful military budget
No to nuclear power, solar energy first
Aggressive crackdown on corporate crime
and corporate welfare
Open up the Presidential debates
Adopt a carbon pollution tax
Reverse U.S. policy in the Middle East
Impeach Bush/Cheney
Repeal the Taft-Hartley anti-union law
Adopt a Wall Street securities speculation tax
Put an end to ballot access obstructionism
Work to end corporate personhood
Please spare us the "Nader is just an egoist" cannard. It's insulting. Nader is trying to get attention to issues you have ignored so that you can market a soothing image. These issues are not frivolous and ego-centered (your charge looks like projection; it's weak). They come from a love for the country and a distaste for politicians who facilitate its rape by an unaccountable financial and corporate elite.
If they want war, they get it, or at least line up for the spoils once the bombs start falling on civillians. If they want a new bubble -- the current one is oil trading -- they get it, nevermind the damage to the financially vulnerable.
It's easy if there is no accountability, and yet you have not stood up for accountability.
It's pretty simple. If we keep supporting politicians such as yourself who will not stand up for us (i.e. the majority of everyday working Americans) against an ever-increasing right-wing/corporatist/authoritarian government, then we are, as Glenn Reynolds opines, fundamentally unserious. Or perhaps, completely cowed by the right. I find either charge distasteful.
The upshot is a charade of an election in which you ride revulsion of the Republicans into office so you can hold it for a short period of time in order to keep the lid on.
If you tell me you can't do anything now, then when? Nothing has been done in my lifetime to stop the slide and I fail to see some mythical near future when things "change." Your governing style looks like a repeat of Bill Clinton, and while he did some decent things for the economy, his presidency led directly to where we are now.
So far, you are proving to be another fighter who leaves himself open to the right, not seeming to care that so many have put money on you. If you diss Ralph Nader and you fail to back up your rhetoric, then you are at some level the elitist (read: con artist) Karl Rove says you are, you are the empty speechmaker the right claims you are, and you are fundamentally unserious in holding out hope to your constituency.
