Tom helps keep the debate alive.

Jeanne said we should keep our polemics short; so here goes...
I don't think that Nader running for President does much to propagate his ideas. Especially if Obama is the candidate, accusations (however unfair they may be) that he is functioning as a spoiler and his supporters' responses to said accusations are going to drown out his program.

I agree that Obama is compromised on a whole series of issues. I think that it is inevitable in a nationally viable electoral candidate in a capitalist society. I think that if the the Greens were to become a national force, they would become compromised in the process (look at the leadership of the German Greens and their attitudes to military intervention). FDR and JFK were if anything more compromised. But their elections were nevertheless crucial prerequisites I think for the social movements of the 30's and 60's respectively. (I know Jeanne disagrees with this historical analysis.)

The pressures on any candidate to perpetuate the war in Iraq are going to be enormous, and can only be resisted if it is politically unsustainable to continue the war. If an explicitly pro-war candidate wins, it's going to be more difficult to make it politically unsustainable to continue the war. Oops-too long. Sorry.