Who exactly is Ralph Nader working for? He can’t expect us to believe he believes he can become president without the backing of an established party. Even uber-rich Ross Perot couldn’t pull that off.
So by having his name added to the Florida ballot, isn’t he shooting the Democrats in the foot again?
Around the country, citizens are fighting to keep this charlatan’s name off their ballots but the Florida Democrats don’t see Nader as a threat, much like in 2000. He cost Al Gore over 97, 000 votes, leading him to lose by 537 votes. How many will he cost John Kerry? Will that be enough to ensure four more years of President Bush?
With Kerry facing opposition from not only Republicans but swift-boat sympathizing Democrats, the last thing he needs is Green and Reform party non-conformists to be given another choice.
The theme of all the voting campaigns this year has been “Vote or Die,” “Let your voice be heard,” and “20 million loud” – all aimed at citizens making their vote count. The media wants you to vote for not just a person, but for ideals and beliefs. Nader’s imposition in this election will ensure that a great number of Florida’s votes will go to waste.
A vote for Nader will more than likely equal a vote for Bush.
President’s HBCU week
declaration a weak gesture
You wouldn’t have known it by walking around campus last week, but according to President Bush, we should have been observing the prominence of FAMU and other black colleges and universities.
That’s right, for the first time ever, last week was National HBCU Week, and yours truly signed it into law.
So does this mean we can expect to see Dubya strutting off of his jet donning a look more fitting for Bill Cosby? We’ll have to wait and see.
But what is certain is that this setting aside of seven days in September is not needed by us.
As students attending an HBCU, we have been doing more than merely showing “our respect and appreciation” for our institution. With every semester that we step onto this campus, pay tuition, go to class and make contributions to FAMU’s productivity, we stretch the boundaries of its legacies.
Therefore, you can’t help but think that such an initiative was enacted to quell the dissent among blacks toward Bush’s poorly conceived education policies. In other words, he threw us a bone.
It becomes easy to be suckered into this ploy when we are in a time where critics proclaim that all of the 100 and more black institutions of higher education are outmoded. On the surface, it appears that a man who holds the highest office in the country has validated our existence.
But the fact remains that at its core this is merely a case of patronization.
Especially when many of these schools are struggling to keep their doors open and are finding themselves on the receiving end of reverse racism.
Could not our highest ranked official roll up his sleeves and help us out with these more pressing issues? Evidently not, we should be thankful we’ve made it this far.
So look forward to the many celebrations to come since club promoters will be the only benefactors of this annual cluster. At least we’ll get some good parties out of it.