I generally encourage progressive thought and action here at AB.com. I try to steer my readers free of Nigga Nonsense. I urge ya'll to Take The AverageBro Challenge on the daily. I gave the youngins some New Man Laws for survival in today's multinational economy. I told ya'll about the harmful effects of Vocoders. Never accuse me of not caring about the betterment of my peoples.
And I always, whether subtly or overtly, try to encourage my AverageNation™ to master the fine art of Code Switching. It's an essential skill for survival in Corporate America, right up there with making small talk about Tiger Woods, and pretending to be interested in stories about camping and/or marathons. You need to know this stuff if you're gonna make it.
For the uninitiated, Code Switching is the art of being able to adjust the way you speak to match your environment. In short, you can't talk barbershop level greasiness on a job interview.
Doing so would be the worst career decision since The Prince of Darkness[1].
And nobody wants to relive that.
Whites don't generally have to Code Switch, and probably don't even know such a concept exists. Sure, they know you exchange slang and "terrorist fist jabs" with the brothas in the mail room, then flawlessly spout sales profit margins to upper management minutes later. They thing is is some natural thing black folks can do "just because they're black" like playing basketball and the Electric Slide. But they don't realize this is actually a very delicate balancing act for most black folks with some trace level of hood in em'.
Cause I'm sure we've all messed up and let a random "axe" or "fittin' to" slip out in a meeting once or twice. Or maybe that's just me.[2]
So, watching perennial Presidential loser Ralph Nader rear his hatin' ass head and spit reckless about Barry's Code Switching has me extra pissed right about now, cause it seems like a guy so inquisitive would have figured this whole thing out by now.
Ralph Nader's presidential candidacy has received little media attention, but his latest critique of Barack Obama has come under fire for it's seemingly racial overtones.I'll be honest here. Ralph Nader isn't really saying anything we haven't discussed at length several times on this very blog. The white-guilt factor. The not wanting to be a threatening Negro. The balancing act of pleasing Negroes and not scaring off whites. Whether being lightskinnded helps. Whether being biracial helps. And there's that whole thing with Michelle.
Speaking with Colorado's Rocky Mountain News, Nader accused Obama of attempting to both "talk white" and appeal to "white guilt" in his quest to win the White House.
"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American," Nader told the paper in comments published Tuesday. "Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards."
Obama's presidential campaign called those comments disappointing.
I'm beginning to wonder if Spool32 is actually Nader himself.
So before I start jumping all over dude, I gotta admit, these paragraphs alone are more Real Talk than I've seen in every MSM outlet combined this year. He's got a darn good understanding of all the racial dynamics at play. I can't say I've seen another white dude dissect the whole field at play so thoroughly.
Maybe Ralph is actually biracial himself.
But here comes the problem.
Nader, the longtime consumer advocate who was blamed by many Democrats for Al Gore’s loss in the 2000 presidential election, said Obama's top issue should be poverty in America, given his racial heritage.Excuse me, but shouldn't fixing urban America's (read: Negroes) issues be something any President should address, regardless of his racial makeup? Why not hold John McCain to the same flawed standard?
"I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural areas, and have a very detailed platform about how the poor is going to be defended by the law, is going to be protected by the law, and is going to be liberated by the law," he said. "Haven't heard a thing."
That's borderline racist right there, Ralph. You been hangin' with Juan Williams or somethin'?
Nader also said Obama is making a concerted effort not to be "another politically threatening African-American politician."Sure, he's technically correct on all accounts. But what exactly was the point of all this? Or course Obama's "enthralled to the corporate powers", you dummy. He didn't get all that money for those 1.5M individual donors. It's not even mathematically possible to get the paper he's gotten so far without getting funded the old-fashioned way as well.
"He wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as black is beautiful, black is powerful. Basically he's coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it's corporate or whether it's simply oligarchic. And they love it. Whites just eat it up."
Nader formally entered the presidential race last spring, expressing disappointment with both remaining Democratic candidates at that time.
"They are both enthralled to the corporate powers," he told CNN of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. "They've completely ignored the presidential pattern of illegality and accountability, they've ignored the out of control waste-fraud military expenditures, they hardly ever mention the diversion of hundreds of billions of dollars to corporate subsidies, handouts, and giveaways, and they don't talk about a living wage."
For all the talk about "Change", that remains a constant: He with the most cash on hand usually prevails. And you don't raise that sorta money without some help from the Big Guys. And those Big Guys will want a return on their investment. How much of a return they get will determine whether or not Obama's Presidency is merely a feel-good moment in time or a true shift in the landscape of American politics. We'll have to wait and see how that pans out.
But none of this is new news? Anyone with a brain understands this. So what's Nader's real point?
If you ask me, this guy's just jealous. He's usually the "sensible alternative", which really means he's nothing more than a spoiler who can screw the guy who loses by pulling away enough votes, as he did in 2000. This year, Obama's not just the "sensible alternative". He's the "sensible frontrunner", and he's accomplished what he has by using some of Nader's own tricks: grassroots level campaigning, appealing to young and apathetic voters, getting activists to drink the Kool Aid, selling hope and change, getting money from the Little Guys while cursing the Big Guys.
He just took some of Ralph's concepts and made em' better. Much better. Or since we're code switchin...
"You made it a hot line, He made it a hot song."[3]
Ask the guys in the mail room if you missed that one, Ralph. Dey know![4]
Question: What's Ralph Nader's friggin' problem? Are you fluent in Code Switching? You got a Code Switchin' Gone Bad story you wanna share with AverageNation™? Do it you-know-where.
Nader: Obama 'Talking White' [CNN]
[1] Yep, another obscure hip-hop reference. Cyber Capri Suns to the first person to break this one down.
[2] It isn't just me? Is It?
[3] Name that tune.
[4] L-O! L-O!
[*] Props to EbonyGentleman for passing this one along.
