Ralph Nader last week had some harsh words for the current President of the United States.
Appearing on Democracy Now!, Nader asked host Amy Goodman, "Has there been a bigger con man in the White House than Barack Obama?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go to President Obama in February in his State of the Union address calling on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $9.00 an hour from $7.25 and to automatically adjust it with inflation.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. We should be able to get that done. This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families. It could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank, rent or eviction, scraping by or finally getting ahead. For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets. And a whole lot of folks out there would probably need less help from government. In fact, working folks shouldn’t have to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up, while CEO pay has never been higher. So here’s an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year: Let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on.
AMY GOODMAN: So that’s President Obama in February in his State of the Union address.
RALPH NADER: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Isn’t that what you’re calling for?
RALPH NADER: Yeah, has there—has there been a bigger con man in the White House than Barack Obama? He hasn’t lifted a finger since he made those statements. And when he made the statements in the 2008 campaign, he said nothing for four years on raising the minimum wage. He made no pressure on Congress. He hasn’t even unleashed people in his own White House on this issue.
As Andrew Kirell observed Thursday, this wasn't the first time Nader referred to Obama as a con man. He did so in 2010.
Readers are advised that Nader made these recent comments on June 4 prior to Edward Snowden's revelations concerning the National Security Agency reviewing everyone's phone records.
Imagine what Nader might say about Obama now.
