Katha Pollitt on Nader

[Seth Ackerman]

Katha Pollitt wrote:

> I know Doug thinks electoral politics is played on the 
> margins, so the Dems would try to recoup the Nader voters -- but how? 
> If the Dems adopt naderite proposals, they'll lose votes on the other 
> end.  Let's say for instance they come out for taxing SUVs -- we'd 
> all love that, but  millions of SUV owners would flee the party. 
> Let's say they come out for less imprisoning -- that would put "being 
> soft on crime" back on top as a campaign issue--it worked agasinst 
> Dukakis, why not again? I totally oppose welfare reform, but as an 
> election issue, it worked.  Clinton understood this -- playing to the 
> center-right may be morally evil, but he won the Presidency and 
> dukakis, mondale, mcgovern lost.
> 
	**

	Katha is being deliberately dim here. If Al Gore really wanted to
appropriate some issue from Ralph Nader to neutralize the threat on his left
flank, he wouldn't decide to tax SUVs or even cut prison sentencing. Come
on! He'd propose a better health care system or raise Social Security
benefits or come up with some way to provide child care to working parents.
Those are popular issues.

	But Katha doesn't seem to relish that prospect anyway since it
apparently would invoke the specter  of "nostalgic populism." (At least,
that's how I understand what she's written.) There are lots of things wrong
with "populism," of course. But Katha seems to think there's something wrong
with the left even trying to be *popular*. 

	Seth