Nader: A Good Addition to the 2008 Race?

Rumors are flying as tomorrow’s guest on Tim Russert’s Sunday morning political talk show Meet the Press is Ralph Nader. Nader made his announcement for his 2004 presidential run on Meet the Press. The real question that we have to ask ourselves is does it really matter? Democrats continue to loathe Ralph Nader for stealing votes from the Democratic Candidate, Al Gore in the 2000 election, especially in the state of Florida. Nader decided to run again in 2004, however this time with a very minimal impact on the general election outcome. After such a poor showing in 2004, does anyone see Nader having an impact on the 2008 race?

For the last eight years the country has suffered from one of the worst presidencies in our history. Democrats won back Congress in 2006 not because the so promised 100 hour plan, but because of the country’s frustration with Republican leadership. Americans frustration with the current administration and the Republican Party is still relevant in 2008 as we see record high turn outs at the Democrat Primaries and Caucuses and shockingly low approval ratings for the commander in chief.

If Senator Barack Obama is able to continue to ride the momentum from eleven straight victories to the Democratic nomination, how does Nader think that he can have any impact on this election. Nader’s success in 2000 was after 8 years of a very popular and fairly liberal president Bill Clinton. In 2000, Nader was able to use the democratic success in the 1990’s to run even farther to the left. Nader tried to that again in 2004 and only received 0.38% of the entire vote. Americans are even more frustrated with Washington then they were in 04 and in this election, people are going to vote for the candidate who can bring change by being elected, not one who allow a Republican to inherit the White House.

If Obama gets the Democratic nomination, this will be a campaign about experience versus change. There will be no room for Nader to establish himself on any particular candidate. Obama appeals to the lefty liberals, the democratic base, moderates, independents and let’s not forget the number of Republicans who are supporting him as well. Nader will fail to get a substantial base to make his candidacy legit. Nader would be better off running as a Neo-Con, because they are still looking for a candidate.

The scenario that could get real interesting for Nader is if Hillary Clinton gets the nomination. Then and only then, does Nader have a shot at having any voice in the discussion of who should be the next president of the United States of America.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.