Nader questions Obama's message

This could be exactly the kind of rhetoric that Democrats were worried about with Ralph Nader.

The consumer activist's independent presidential campaign this afternoon sent out a fund-raising solicitation that approvingly quotes novelist Russell Banks raising questions about Barack Obama, the new presumptive Democratic nominee.

Banks, in an interview aired yesterday on Radio Open Source, said, "How do you get people to vote against their own self interest? That's the trick." (The discussion of the election comes about nine minutes into the interview.)

"One way is to make people believe in a dream. That's what all of the mainstream politicians are doing -- feeding that dream. Obama is feeding a dream -- a dream of change and renewal. He's feeding a dream that the conditions that surround us -- Iraq, the economy, the racial divide, the class divide in this country -- that they are magically going to go away by voting for this centrist Democrat."

"The Obama moment is a feel good moment," the novelist continued later in the interview. "It makes us feel good. But the programs Obama is proposing -- up and down and all around -- are the same centrist Democratic positions. The same people are going to be running the show. All of the corporations are rapidly switching their contributions to the Democrats."

The Nader campaign email then adds, "What wasn't mentioned was Nader/Gonzalez. So, let us say it loud and clear. Nader/Gonzalez. Shift the power from the few to the many. Free our government of corporate domination. Restore the sovereignty of an engaged people. Don't fall for the trick. Help us put Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot."

Many Democrats, of course, still blame Nader for helping stop Democrat Al Gore from reaching the White House in 2000 -- an assertion Nader vehemently denies.