It's quite clear he is inverting the race paradigm that has been central to the whole Obama campaign and expressing an idea about class divisions in the black community that has been quite frequently expressed by radical black activists. I think if Obama is going to run and be applauded using the motif of black empowerment, Nader's comments are legitimized by their use of this theme, and Nader is picking up on it.
This commentary would have been much better voiced by radical left black activists, but unfortunately, those of Nader's generation who might have made such statements, have been effectively marginalized in one way or another.
Quite frankly, this comment by Nader, and the shocked brouhaha that accompanies it fits right in the same category as the infamous "the chickens have come home to roost" statement made by Malcolm X, on the day of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, or Sunera Thobani's infamous "the hands of the US are covered in blood" comment after 9-11.
The reaction is similar, and the outrage histrionics that accompany them add to the impression that the comments struck a nerve, in such a way that gives the comments more poignant significance than they actually warrant.
The more reaction I read, the more significant they seem.
