Nader: Obama appealing to 'white guilt'

DENVER, June 25 (UPI) -- Independent U.S. presidential candidate Ralph Nader has accused his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, of trying to "talk white" and appealing to "white guilt."

In an interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Nader said he is again running for president because the Democrats and Republicans are too cozy with corporate interests.

Nader said the only one difference between Obama and Democratic presidential hopefuls he has criticized previously: he is black.

"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?" Nader said.

To win the White House, Obama is trying to appeal to "white guilt," Nader said.

"He wants to show that he is not a threatening ... another politically threatening African-American politician," Nader said. "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."