Charles Kader: Tribal issues go missing in presidential campaign

Wednesday, November 7, 2012  

"My statement on the 2012 election is that the absence of a major third party candidate on the ballots of all 50 states left the American voting public deprived of both non-formatted issues and answers. This lack of a high profile third party candidate led to the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012.

For those Republican voters, the defeat of Mitt Romney came not because he was an inferior candidate (he was not) but because Governor Romney could not entice enough American voters to get off the couch and cast a vote for his agenda.

The successful candidacy of President Obama was not an immediate win for all of his voters either. Sure, Democrats will champion, for instance, the second presidential debate, as yet another election milestone on the way to victory. Yes, another embattled Democratic Party incumbent President fought his way back to a second term, despite questions of personal leadership. Were his voters really all Democrat supporters or were many actually casting ballots as independent voters splitting the difference between candidates?

Nowhere along the winding 2012 campaign did the specific needs of Native Americans become addressed, either wholly or partially, and I cannot separate myself from that glaring omission."

Get the Story:
Charles Kader: Election-Season Tidings (Indian Country Today 11/7)