The Real Problem with Nader

You might get the impression from my last few posts that I think people who object to Ralph Nader's candidacy should just stop whining. Actually. I do think we have a bone to pick with Nader. It's this: like Jesse Jackson before him, Nader is doing nothing to build a movement.

What's that you say? They're politicians, not community organizers? But you see, a progressive candidate should be both. If possible, the candidate should win, but we progressives know it's not always possible. What the candidate can do--can always do--is help people who are hungry for justice find one another, and call their friends, and get organized, and put their best arguments forward. In years to come, what was a voice crying in the wilderness can become the voice of the people.

Before he was a politician, Obama was a community organizer. I voted for Obama instead of Clinton in the Democratic primary because there's a just slight chance he might remember that. Now, how do we remind Ralph Nader?