Pollitt on Nader

Seth Ackerman SAckerman at FAIR.org
Wed Sep 27 15:12:35 PDT 2000


Gore is certainly running on the left rhetorically. But exactly how has he changed his actual policies? By offering to expand Medicare in ways that even House Republicans support?

The only thing that impresses me about his platform is that he's *not* going to privatize/cut Social Security -- that's something he used to personally favor. But he had little choice. Once Bush -- to everyone's surprise -- came out openly for privatizing Social Security, Gore was pretty much compelled to offer the opposite.

Other than that, all I see is a plan to use 70% of the surplus to pay down the debt. Free trade. Missile defense. Welfare reform. No "universal health care" -- instead "step by step." I'm glad he's running as a populist -- if he wins, it makes a good ideological point. But the guy's still a centrist.

Seth



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