Ralph Nader, the David who slew the Detroit Goliath in the previous century, has thrown his hat into the presidential race. To the uninitiated, Nader is the one who fought against the major US auto companies and forced them to pay greater attention to safety in the cars they made. The seat belts and air bags are the legacy of Nader’s untiring crusade. He wrote the book, Unsafe at Any Speed, in 1965 which put the squeeze on US car makers.
This is not the first time he is running for president. He had run in 2000 and lost as the candidate of the Greens Party. Even this time he has snowball’s chance in hell to become president. Then why is he running? Because he believes that only moneybags are standing for the US presidency today. By his candidature he wants to send a message to the common Americans that they too can aspire for the highest chair in the country. As he put it,
You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected. In that context, I have decided to run for president.
Who is worried with his arrival in the presidential race? The republicans are celebrating. They are hoping that he will draw away progressive votes of the Democrats and also prevent the liberal conservatives from deserting their side who might have contemplated voting for Clinton or Obama. But though the Democrats accuse Nader of enabling Bush to scrape through in 2000, it is doubtful that he will make any significant impact on the fortunes of the current democrat hopefuls.
The reason is that both the Clinton and Obama campaign machines are going full steam and Nader will hardly be able to make even a dent. Also Nader is an Arab-American (Nader’s parents are Lebanese) and in today’s Islam-phobic times, that will be a big minus. Nader’s progressive agenda scares conservative US voters to death and that will help McCain get some more votes.
Source: Independent
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