Nader Likes Obama, but He's Still a 'Corporate Democrat'

Ralph Nader prefers Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton, but still considers Obama what he calls “a corporate Democrat,” the Green Party candidate for president tells the Wall Street Journal in a wide-ranging chat over lunch. Despite the populist rhetoric, Obama has “made his peace” with the need to be a “conciliatory, concessionary, adaptive politician to the reality of corporate power,” Nader notes.

"The companies give Democrats this leeway, and say, 'Well, Obama's gotta say that stuff, but he'll come around,' " he adds. Nader also calls Bush “the worst president we've ever had,” and bridles at questions over whether he cost Al Gore the 2000 election. “No one's a 'spoiler'—unless we're all 'spoilers,' ” he says. “When they say, 'You cost Gore the election,' I say, 'I thought Bush took more votes from Gore.' " He adds that Democrats aren’t “used to third-party challenges, so they still scapegoat the Green Party.” (More Ralph Nader stories.)