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Nader: Pres. Obama 'flunked' first year
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Candidate
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Dec 20, 2009 05:33pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Tony Romm |
| News Date | Saturday, December 19, 2009 11:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "Ralph Nader was incredibly critical of candidate Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign -- at one point predicting the former Illinois senator would become the nation's premier "panderer-in-chief."
But almost a year into Obama's first term as president, Nader said he remains steadfastly unsatisfied with the administration's performance, which he described on Friday as "concessionary."
In an interview with The Hill, the former Green Party candidate noted Obama had basically "flunked" his first year in office, in part because he was too conciliatory to businesses, interest groups and political opponents. (Flunking is below "hanging in there" and "prevailing," Nader explained of his grading scale.)
"He's been far too concessionary to large corporations, many of which want to block his legislation and many of which are being bailed out by his administration. That's the Wall Street crowd and the drug and health insurance [companies]," Nader said.
"And when you're concessionary, for the president, the Republicans smell weakness, they smell pliability, they smell the desperation... and when you project weakness, instead of steadfastness, then you facilitate divisions within your own party," he added.
Obama graded himself a B+ last week, mostly as a result of this year's healthcare debate. Still, the mark shocked many of the president's political opponents, who quickly demurred he deserved a far lower grade." |
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