Nader

Given the racism that Obama is confronted with, and that presumably will become more prevalent and vicious later on in the campaign, it's a lot easier for Nader to make a (nuanced) commitment to Affirmative Action than it is for Obama. So don't take my posting of this part of Nader's platform as a criticism of Obama for not stating a position on Affirmative Action. Rather, it's a defense of Nader from the charge of "racism".

Obama has suggested in one of his debates with Hillary Clinton that affirmative action in higher education might switch from a focus on race to one on class. See http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/17/qt and http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/05/12/kahlenberg. That's probably a viable way to go for all forms of affirmative action. Class has been under-emphasized for too long, so that's a plus for those of us who think that "class consciousness" is a good and necessary component of progressive strategies for change. A broad and expanded program of affirmative action based on class would be of practical value to African-Americans, although many are wary that they might be short-changed in its politically sensitive implementation. And there's some loss of historical consciousness and sense of social responsibility if the idea of "reparations" is embedded so deeply in a class-based program that reparations disappears as a distinct factor.

Enter Ralph Nader.

As Edwards bails out, Nader takes another step for a run at the Presidency (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/01/30/nader-takes-steps-toward...). Since our new community standards are clear about not cussing, I won't. But that doesn't mean I don't want to.

We finally have a chance to get a President who will extract us out of the war, who will deliver health insurance for every American and take on global warming with all the necessary vigor that is required. We don't need Ralph Nader if we ever did. He can say that Hillary and Obama are centrists, but they are certainly more progressive in their policy positions, especially domestic policy and the environment, than any viable candidate since LBJ and JFK. The pendulum from this conservative hegemony that we've been living under for the last 30 years can finally start to swing back.

While Nader is strong on the environment and corporate greed issues, I've always felt he had holes on racism and gender equality issues. He's never been particularly strong on these issues. We now have a chance to have an African American or woman President, breaking one of the last barriers that few people thought they would see in their lifetimes even a few years ago, and now he wants to jeopardize that possibility?