Nader asks if Obama will be an Uncle Tom

There are many things I like about Ralph Nader during his long career in consumer activism - he's done a great deal of good and raised a number of important issues by exposing numerous cases of malfeasance in corporate America.

However, politically? Forget it. I'll always consider him a traitor for what he did in 2000 - it's not an understatement to say that President Bush is where he is today as a direct result of Nader. But, political fortunes have ways of reversing, and Nader hasn't gotten any traction since then, thankfully. He ran for president again this year, and I think I received more votes for president than he did.

Anyway, he was on Fox News the day before yesterday to talk about his comments on Fox Radio that were as follows:

To put it very simply, he is our first African-American president in this country, or he will be. And we wish him very well. 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.

I understand Nader's point, but did he really need to use racially charged language like that. Really classy, Nader, really classy.

As Nicole Belle said so succinctly on Wednesday, it's pretty bad when Shepard Smith of Fox News looks classier than you do, Nader.

And by the way, I don't disagree with all of Nader's points, specifically when he mentions how manufacturing in this country has been parceled out to dictators in third-world countries, but there's a right way and a wrong way to go about making a point. When you use racist phrases, your message, however sage it might be, gets lost in lots and lots of noise (as it should be).

Shame on you, Ralph Nader.