Nader over Obama

[Antid Oto]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Posted by Ralph Nader on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 10:37:00 PM
Words, Words, Mere Words .

Senator Obama said earlier today that I haven't been paying attention
to his campaign.

Actually, I have.

And it's clear from Senator Obama's campaign that he is not willing to
tackle the white power structure - whether in the form of the
corporate power structure or many of the super-rich - who are taking
advantage of 100 million low income Americans who are suffering in
poverty or near poverty.

Senator Obama is opposed to single payer national health insurance.

Why?

Because he favors the health insurance giants over the millions of
Americans in poverty or near poverty who are uninsured or
under-insured. Eighteen thousand Americans die every year because they
cannot afford health insurance, according to the Institute of Medicine.

Senator Obama wants to expand the military budget which is loaded with
waste, fraud and abuse - instead of cutting it and investing the long
ignored peace dividend in the inner cities with good jobs and public
works - including schools, clinics, and libraries.

Why?

Because he fears and favors those thousands of lobbyists in charge of
enlarging the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower
warned us against.

Senator Obama says he favors a living wage. But he doesn't say he
would immediately increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour, which is
the equivalent of the 1968 minimum wage adjusted for inflation -
because by doing so he would offend the big corporations who exploit
labor in places like Wal-Mart and fast food chains. (The minimum wage
needs to be increased immediately, not phased in over a number of
years, as Senator Obama would have it.)

So Senator Obama, let's get specific.

We're looking for deeds, not, as Shakespeare put it, words, words,
mere words.

Your public career, which I have also been paying attention to, is
long on words, and short on action when it comes to consumer
protection, cracking down on corporate crime, curbing the violence of
toxic environmental racism, and extending clean, affordable public
transit, among other issues.

For the purposes of the here and now, three things:

One, why don't you support single payer national health insurance,
which is supported by a majority of doctors and the American people?

Two, why do you favor expanding the military budget which is replete
with waste, fraud and abuse?

And three, why don't you come out and support an immediate increase of
the minimum wage to $10 an hour?

When can we expect the authenticity of hope and change?

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