On the day that Barack Obama was elected the first black president of the United States, Ralph Nader (I) made a statement to Fox News Houston, KTRH. “To put it very simply, he is our first African American president; or he will be. But his choice, basically, is whether he’s going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country, or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations.”
The term Uncle Tom, of course, comes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and is used as a racial term for a black person who panders to white authority figures. It could be strongly debated whether or not the term could even have the possibility of applying to a man about to step into the role of ultimate authority, the most powerful man in the world.
In a later interview, Shepard Smith of Fox News Network questioned perennial also-ran Nader on his use of the racially charged term Uncle Tom, but Nader seemed unwilling or unable to understand the outrage that the phrase could cause, even after prompted as to whether or not, in hindsight, he would use a different choice of words.
When asked how he could justify himself, Nader stated that this was the question that Obama had to prove. He seemed oblivious to the fact that the reason the question had been asked was because he had said it, and had repeated it on multiple occasions. Ralph seems to be using a variant of the Señor Wences ventriloquism bit in his latest cry for attention, insisting that Obama respond to apocryphal question.
This is not the first of this line of attack we’ve heard from Nader, previously he has asked whether or not Obama “wants to talk white” in an interview with Rocky Mountain News. Nader seems to have taken up his platform as the real black president, even if nobody seems to believe it.
Regardless of the effectiveness of the remarks, we really must question the timing of his various statements, and the motives behind them. It’s unsure whether this is just a result of a sore loser, criticizing a man that succeeded where he failed, or whether its just a plea for attention. After his last three presidential bids, either would be easy to believe.
