There is probably no one in the world that I respect more than Ralph Nader. No one I trust more.  But I'm telling every Ohio voter, don't vote for Ralph Nader.

The reason is simple.  We cannot afford to have President John McCain.

Nader speaks the brutal truth to power.  But much more than that, he knows and articulates exactly what is wrong with our government and its policies.  His assessments are so right.

It's hard to imagine any candidate in our political duopoly with the ability to discuss critically, as well as Nader, does what is wrong with our government.  Nader also has had the ability to forge institutions that try - often successfully - to correct our nation's ills.

However, Nader himself warned, I believe before the 2004 election, in an appearance at John Carroll University, that if you thought the election in Ohio was so close that a vote for him would elect the Republican, do what your conscience tells you to do.  The question came from Janice Cogger who was conflicted because she found Nader's policy critique so compelling but she feared the re-election of George Bush.  The implication of Nader's answer was to vote for the Democrat if the election in Ohio were close.  It was and it is.

Nader has been personally helpful to me, someone who had no connections to him other than he viewed what I was doing in my small way in Cleveland as a civic endeavor that he advocates and champions.  I will always appreciate his concern for me.  It speaks to his sincerity and commitment to the smallest of efforts.

Personally, I think Barack Obama represents a wise choice, a choice I can make in good conscience.

I hope that Obama early in his term will seek out Nader's advice on a whole host of issues.  I hope he will not, as other Democrats unwisely have done, shun Nader.  It would be a bad mistake.

We don't have the luxury of many more political blunders.

Anyone who has doubts about Obama should read the endorsement of The New Yorker magazine.  It is a masterful critique of the candidates.  To read it online, click here.

So please, this one is very important.  It will be important also to keep the pressure on President Obama to end the war in Iraq, and Afghanistan, too...  and give him the popular support to redirect America to be the hope it once represented to the world.