Nader and Rove Playing Tag: Obama "A Talking White Elite "

"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American. Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson?" - Ralph Nader.

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy," Rove said, at a Capital Hill breakfast with Republican insiders. "He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."— Karl Rove

Robert Gibbs Obama's Communication Director Responds:


Jake Tapper Thoughts:

One Word About the Timing of Nader's Racial Rant

June 25, 2008 2:02 PM

Considering how disappointed many liberals and progressives are in Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, this week for his flip-flop on public financing and his willingness to support the compromise FISA bill -- despite an earlier promise to filibuster it if it contained retroactive immunity for the telecoms -- it can be argued that it actually helps Obama for Mr. Nader to have made his curious comments about Obama "talk(ing) white."

Might discourage some lefties from abandoning the Democratic ship.

Just a thought.

- jpt

Matthew Yeglesias had this to say:

I would find this more persuasive were it not for the fact that Obama does want to crack down on predatory lending and other forms of financial exploitation of the poor. And then there's this:

Still, key players who worked with Obama at Altgeld Gardens said he deserves credit for pulling together a team of hundreds of residents who rallied for improvements at their housing projects. Obama helped secure grants for a jobs program and pushed for asbestos removal. His biggest accomplishment may have been to leave in place a group of activist mothers, some of whom continue to work or live at Altgeld Gardens.

And then there's Obama's lead abatement bill. All that is to say nothing of minor details like Obama's support for programs that would create universal access to preschool and health insurance. You don't need to be blind to the very real flaws of Obama and his agenda to recognize that it really is a substantially different one from what's being offered by John McCain.