On February 21, 2000, Ralph Nader announced that he would enter the presidential race as the Green Party candidate for president. Eight years later, speaking with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Nader announced that he would once again enter the race.
Few of us who heard Nader's announcement in 2000 could have imagined the enormous consequences of that decision. There is little doubt that if Al Gore had received only 20 per cent of the 97,421 votes cast for Nader in Florida in 2000, Bush's 537-vote lead would have evaporated, and Gore would have been elected president.
Many Democrats, even those who agree with Nader's positions on important issues, continue to blame him for Gore's defeat, and hold him in contempt.
Indeed, when Nader again ran for president in 2004, he garnered about 0.4 per cent of the popular vote and his candidacy had no discernible effect on the outcome of the election.
Now, after enduring the disastrous two-term presidency of George W. Bush, it is unlikely that many Americans will make the mistake of voting for Nader in November.
Although Americans are unlikely to support Nader, they might well be in tune with one signature component of his message.
In his 2000 speech announcing his candidacy, Nader correctly noted that the United States faced "grave and growing societal problems in healthcare, education, labour, energy and the environment".
He said, "Active citizens have solutions, yet their voices are not carrying across the democracy gap ..." because "our political leadership has been hijacked".
It is clear that many Americans today agree with Nader's earlier assessment of the problems facing the country.
As recent public opinion polls indicate, 68 per cent of Americans believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction, and by a 2-to-1 margin, Democrats believe that the ability to bring about change is a candidate's most important quality.
Endless war
Americans understand that bringing about change will require strong leadership. It is for this reason that Barack Obama's message has resonated with voters fed up with the seemingly endless war in Iraq, the shocking incompetence of federal officials at the very highest levels and the failure of members of Congress to stop bickering long enough to conduct the people's business.
Obama has focused on the issue of leadership not as a matter of technical competence, but rather as an essential ability that any president must possess if he or she is to deal effectively with the difficult and complex problems facing the country.
As Obama has stated, the problem in Congress has not been a paucity of good policy proposals, but the profound failure of our leaders to work together to get things done.
Obama expressed this truism in his most recent debate with Hillary Clinton when he said, "What is lacking right now is not good ideas. The problem we have is that Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die."
Obama's references to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. have effectively reminded many Americans of what is possible when a leader inspires the electorate.
In addition, he has tapped into a deeply felt desire, especially among younger voters, to transcend the bitter partisanship that has characterised American politics for as long as anyone under the age of 40 can remember.
Americans who, like Nader, believe that "our political leadership has been hijacked" have responded passionately to Obama's call for a movement of like-minded people coming together to accomplish their goals.
Obama's many supporters have demonstrated that by making small donations online and working tirelessly in states all across the country.
"Yes we can" is as much about what has already been accomplished as what remains to be done.
Ironically, Obama's grass-roots campaign, which has benefited so much from the active participation of so many individuals, represents precisely the kind of political "Yes we can" activism to which Nader has devoted his life. He should reconsider his decision to run.
Adrienne Fulco is an associate professor and director of the Public Policy and Law Program at Trinity College.
