Taking Nader seriously, Part 1

I have an old friend who is a Nader supporter. We've been discussing everyone's favorite Lebanese American presidential candidate. As far as I am concerned, 2000 campaign is over and done with. My take on Nader is simple: I think he's an incredible activist, but not such a great politician. But, since I have been talking about him, I figured I should at least check out his Web site, and take him at least a little bit seriously.

At the outset, I think it's important for Obama supporters to acknowledge the groundwork that Nader laid, in terms of setting up organizational structures for organizing, that paved the way for the Obama campaign. Obama has run an incredibly well-organized campaign, and a large part of that is due to his background as a community organizer. Nader was instrumental in developing an infrastructure for community organizing, for legitimizing it. In that sense, Obama is Nader's heir in this campaign. That has to be acknowledged.

Votenader.org is a decent Website. It has a lot in common with barackobama.com: Sign up here, contribute here, etc. I suppose that's the nature of the beast. I'll comment more later.

My friend called me tonight because he had heard about a radio show on Democracy Now! that had an interesting twist on the presidential debates. The ran the audio for the last presidential debate, and then invited Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader (Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin were invited, but couldn't make it) to respond. That's cool.

The only problem was that McKinney and Nader didn't have a lot of time themselves to respond. I noticed a couple of things: McKinney said something about nationalizing the Federal Reserve. Huh? That makes no sense, and it's the kind of comment that can say a little too much about why someone is a third party candidate for president, instead of still being a member of Congress.

Nader talked about a securities tax, which I think is an interesting idea. It's the kind of thing that would usually arouse rather serious opposition from the financial industry, but might get passed today, given the unpopularity of Wall Street. But then he threw in a soundbite that threw me for a bit of a loop. He mentioned that this year, the total value of derivatives transactions will be $500 trillion, and that a tax of of 1/10 of 1% would raise $500 billion. This is the kind of thing that sounds too good to be true. If it were that easy to raise $500 billion, we would have done it by now. $500 trillion? I think he might be talking about the total value of all transactions, but that is very different from the total value of all derivatives. For example, if someone has an insurance policy on their house with $1 million of coverage, that does not mean that they have paid the insurance company $1 million. It means that they pay the insurance company a few thousand dollars every year. So that comment did not do wonders for Mr. Nader's credibility on economic issues.

Cynthia McKinney brought up the death penalty, and for that I am grateful, and for that alone I am thankful that she is in the race, in whatever capacity.

Nader also wants more debates, obviously including him. I'm uncommitted on that score; I think it would certainly make things more interesting, but there also was not a shortage of debates during the primary. Three presidential debates was just about enough for me. I would, however, be interested in seeing the presidential candidates mix it up with some third party candidates next time around. That could be fun. I've also heard that, contrary to John Kerry, Obama did not try to persuade Nader not to run, and did nothing to block him. So Nader is on the ballot in 45 states. I think that's healthy, but I have to admit that, this time around, Obama is running a much better campaign than either Gore in 2000 or Kerry in 2004. Also, and this is a little sad, Nader just is not that much of a threat this time around. So maybe I can afford to be gracious. But if I can afford it, then I think I have a responsibility to be that way.

ACORN came up. I interviewed with ACORN once, in Philadelphia. I could have worked for them while I was taking time off of Swarthmore. Instead, I went to Oberlin and took a couple of classes. I'm glad I did. It was at Oberlin that I came up with the first half of the motto of this blog: Art before politics.

Nader advocates scrapping NAFTA and the WTO. Not a healthy approach. Those are treaties that the US has signed. Once they are signed, we have to oblige by them. Ignoring the demands of international law is one of the great problems of the Bush administration. Bush trashed the ABM treaty when he first got into office. Arbitrarily and unilaterally voiding treaties does not engender respect for democracy, either here in America or abroad. So while I agree with Ralph that labor and environmental standards should be part of free trade agreements, I think his approach could be more diplomatic. Which is supposed to be part of what differentiates him from Bush.

I recommend reading the transcript, as opposed to listening to it, because that way you can skip the Obama-McCain parts.

Tonight's winner: Joe the plumber!

I watched the debate at a bar in Pasadena. By the end, people in the bar, including the bartender, were laughing anytime anyone mentioned Joe The Plumber.

As usual, Obama seemed very calm, while McCain seemed ready to explode. I'm thinking of McCain in contrast to Reagan. I couldn't stand Reagan when he was in office, but I will admit that he was always very calm and likable. Even when he seemed confused and befuddled, he was a nice guy. McCain is just pissed off at Obama. It's easy to see why his rallies are filled with people yelling and screaming; he can barely keep himself from letting it rip. He clearly had to make an effort to keep his anger inside himself. And at least once he got very sarcastic, I think about vouchers in the DC schools. McCain seriously looks like he is about to lose it. I remember feeling like that - when I was about 17. He really looks like an immature teenager. Which I don't think I would say about almost any other Republican.

Andrew Sullivan thinks that Obama was, a couple of times, boring. But that's a compliment this time around, particularly in comparison to Bush. This brings up something most people forget: politics at a time like this is fascinating, but politics is ultimately about governing, and the vast, vast majority of government is really, really dull. The mechanics of government are about laws and numbers. So I suppose we should be thankful that politics, as opposed to government, is occasionally so damn dramatic.

I've already seen a couple of YouTubes up cataloguing McCain's eye-rolling, his smirks, etc. Here's one:



McCain looks like he's incredibly frustrated, and he can't handle being frustrated. Which is just not a quality I want in a president.

Some substance: spending freeze? How about we get specific? A spending freeze would mean no increases for the FBI, for medical research, for consumer product safety. Remember that mess we had with passports, when the State Department couldn't process all the requests and had to hire more people? We would be out of luck on that one. NASA, you want to fix the Hubble? Sorry, not in the budget.

Obama keeps bringing it back to the issues. Good move.

On the question of the tone of the campaign, Obama very gently explains that he thot John Lewis's comment was inappropriate. That's exactly the right response. When someone gets a little excited, you say something very diplomatic, and you say it calmly, and then everyone forgets about it. I don't John McCain has done anything remotely like that for months.

Just want to remind everyone of Hemingway's definition of courage: Courage is grace under pressure. Obama sure was graceful under pressure.

One of Obama's best qualities in a situation like this is his ability to laugh off challenges, to be genuinely amused when something comes up that is supposed to bother him. He just smiles at some of McCain's attacks, and then calmly refutes them. Strong contrast to McCain's twitching.

That's it for now.

First debate reax: quick and dirty

I haven't had a chance to watch the whole debate yet, and, from what I've read, I'm not sure I want to. Sounds like it wasn't the most exciting thing ever, although, for a political junkie like me, I'm guessing every second will have something of interest.

I did watch the question about the bailout. McCain clearly tried to pin everything on the Democrats and Obama. It was transparent, and almost silly, because he's not talking about Wall Street or the broader picture. Even someone with a minimal understanding of this crisis should know that Fannie and Freddie, while key, were also far from the whole story.

Obama, on the other hand, both personalized it very quickly and simply - this is what it means to you - and then went straight to the big picture: McCain advocated deregulation. Simple and powerful: deregulation of the financial should be striking fear into every American's heart at this point. He sounded like a teacher who really wanted to make sure his students understood what he was trying to explain. Not condescending towards them, but determined to make a complicated subject clear. Good for him.

Gotta miss the debate

I am unfortunately going to miss the presidential debate tonight; I have a meeting that cannot be missed. But I will try to catch as much of it as I can online.

My prediction is that Obama will connect really well with people in the audience. As I understand it, tonight's debate is a town-hall forum. I've heard rumors that Obama does not do as well in these kinds of debates as in other, more formal settings. I'm not sure I buy that; I think one of Obama's great strengths is his ability to listen. If he can provide answers that actually answer the questions posed, without too many cliches or talking points, I think he will come off well.

I also expect more anger from McCain. He's been getting criticism of late that he is coming across as a grumpy old man. If he listens to that criticism, he'll try to avoid getting mad.

But I don't think he is listening to that criticism. McCain is famous in the Senate for his temper. If he hasn't figured out how to control his temper in the Senate by now, he ain't going to be learning anytime soon.

Obama wins!

I watched the debate last night in Hollywood, at a Generation Obama watch party. I thot Obama did well. Obviously, I would like to think Obama won a smashing victory. I don't think that. I think he won, but not by much. He didn't make any mistakes, which was key. I liked his emphasis on Afghanistan, because I think that issue, together with his early opposition to the war in Iraq, shows some good foreign policy judgment. Most people know that he opposed the war in Iraq; I don't think many people are aware that he is in favor of refocusing on Afghanistan. That's a subtle thing, but it's also very important, and I think many people will get it. There are many people who either or opposed the Iraq war initially, or who oppose it now, who support the war in Afghanistan.

Focusing on Afghanistan also could reassure Republicans who are worried about Obama's willingness to use force. He's not a pacifist; he's not opposed to the use of force as a matter of philosophy or ideology. He recognizes that the use of force is sometimes necessary. But he also is far more prudent about how and when to use it than either Bush or McCain. I think that came through.

Should the debate this Friday be canceled?

No.

John McCain wants to cancel the debate this Friday so that he and Barack Obama can focus on the economic crisis. I don't think that's a good idea. I think it's a terrible idea. What Americans need now is the opportunity to hear what the candidates think about the issues. The rest of the people involved in solving this can work around the debates. A debate is one of the best possible ways for candidates to communicate with the American people, which is of paramount importance right now.

If the debates are canceled, McCain and Obama will end up talking to other people in Washington. That's not what we need right now. We need them talking to us.