What Happened To You, Ralph Nader?

We hear a BAM.
Louis jerks.
Ordell shot him.
Louis falls back against the car door, eyes wide open, staring at Ordell.
Ordell takes the pistol, works the barrel up higher on Louis' side, right under his arm, and shoots him again.
This time Louis' head BANGS against the car door window. He slumps over, his life gone.
Ordell looks at him.
ORDELL: What the fuck happened to you, man? Shit, your ass use'ta be beautiful.

I thought of this great moment from Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" when I heard that Ralph Nader had said the following about Barack Obama:

I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards.

Concerned, apparently, that his remarks could be interpreted as anti-black, Nader went on to patronize white people:

He wants to show that he is not a threatening . . . another politically threatening African-American politician. He wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as 'black is beautiful, black is powerful.' Basically he's coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it's corporate or whether it's simply oligarchic. And they love it. Whites just eat it up.

To be sure, the problems of America's poorest urban communities deserve more attention than they've received. John Edwards talked about them some while he was still in the race. And, as Obama has pointed out, he has been talking about those issues. But Nader's attack is just sad and pathetic, and would be laughable coming from a lesser man.

What the fuck happened to you, Ralph Nader? Shit, your ass use'ta beautiful.