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Date: October 11, 2024 at 22:18:14
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Obama sends stark warning message to Democrats |
URL: Obama sends stark warning message to Democrats |
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Obama sends stark warning message to Democrats
BY AMIE PARNES - 10/11/24 2:03 PM ET
Former President Obama on Thursday night did what many Democrats
had been craving.
He said the quiet part out loud.
For days, Democrats have been worried about a lack of enthusiasm among
segments of their base.
So when Obama made an unannounced campaign stop at a field office in
Pittsburgh, he used the opportunity — with television cameras rolling — to
issue a call to action to Black men specifically.
“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses; I’ve got a
problem with that,” he said. “Because part of it makes me think — and I’m
speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just
aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming
up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
Obama’s clarion call to his party gave breath to the nervousness
Democrats have been feeling in recent days.
If the party doesn’t figure out a way to close the gender gap with former
President Trump among men, and if it cannot convince men of color to
come out in droves for Vice President Harris, Trump will win reelection to
another four years in office.
With the remarks on Thursday, Obama gave his party a warning while
seeking to start a difficult conversation that could turn around some of
those numbers.
Obama’s comments were reflective of the current state of the race, which
shows Harris in a dead heat with Trump in all of the battleground states.
And while Democrats were on a sugar-high following President Biden’s
withdrawal from the race in July, they have begun to worry in recent days
that Harris isn’t where she should be with parts of her base.
While the vice president has far surpassed Trump with women, she is
underperforming with Latino men and Black men, two voting blocs that
were key to Obama’s coalition for his own races. Recent polls show both
Biden and Hillary Clinton were ahead of Harris with those groups in 2020
and 2016 respectively.
“He is uniquely positioned with a lot of these voters to have those hard
conversations,” said Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who ran
Obama’s Florida operation during the former president’s 2008 race. “And
it starts with being okay to admit there’s a problem. We have a gender gap
right now and it’s with men and that’s not working in our favor.”
And Democrats say the former president is one of the few people in the
party who can serve that role.
“My side thinks we should meet voters where they should be and the thing
I’ve always appreciated about his skillset is he meets voters where they
are,” Schale said.
Schale said Obama recognizes the gender gap could cost Harris the
election and used deliberatively provocative language to make news and
get the word out. Obama, he said, has “earned a ton of political capital
with a lot of voters — particularly with African American voters — and he
spent some of that capital last night and I think it’s important.”
In his remarks, Obama sought to draw a clear distinction between the two
candidates.
“On the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you,
went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that
comes from those experiences,” Obama said before launching into a list of
Harris’s policies.
Trump, he continued, “has consistently shown disregard, not just for the
communities, but for you as a person … And you are thinking about sitting
out?”
During a packed rally Thursday at the University of Pittsburgh, Obama
also sought to speak directly to men, many of whom supported his
candidacies but moved on to Trump in the 2016 and 2020 races.
“I’m sorry gentlemen. I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who
seem to think Trump’s behavior, the bullying and the putting people down
is a sign of strength,” Obama said. “I am here to tell you that is not what
real strength is and has never been.”
Obama is expected to travel to key states including Arizona and Nevada in
the coming week, the campaign announced Friday.
A source familiar with Obama’s travel said the former president is also
expected to appear in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina
later this month before returning to Pennsylvania.
Harris has tried to make inroads with men in recent days, appearing on
Howard Stern’s radio program, as well as a podcast hosted by two former
NBA players. She has also highlighted her law enforcement background
and openly discussed owning a Glock handgun and shooting it at a firing
range.
Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is also participating in a
male-specific blitz to help lure men to the Democratic column.
On Friday, the Harris campaign announced the vice president would
participate in a town hall in Detroit hosted by Charlamagne tha God,
whose radio program is popular with Black millennials.
In the meantime, Democrats say Obama is the best surrogate to help
move the needle with Black men in an election they feel they can win.
“Obama has 100 percent name ID and historically high trust with Black
male voters,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne, who served as the
director of African American paid media for Clinton’s 2016 presidential
campaign. “His words will amplify the work the campaign is doing to teach
these voters.”
Democratic strategist Eddie Vale said Obama took the first step.
“You can’t address or fix something if you aren’t talking about it,” Vale
said. “Is it going to change 100 percent of everyone’s minds? Nope. But in
this close election everything matters. So even if it can only change a few
folks’s minds, it’s worth it.”
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Date: October 11, 2024 at 22:24:31
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Obama faces backlash for comments toward Black men |
URL: Obama faces backlash for comments toward Black men |
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Obama faces backlash for comments toward Black men
BY CHEYANNE M. DANIELS - 10/11/24 5:58 PM ET
Former President Obama is drawing backlash for recent comments calling
on Black men to turn out for Vice President Harris in November’s election.
At a campaign stump for Harris on Thursday in Pittsburgh, Obama said
that despite Harris raising upward of $1 billion, “we have not yet seen the
same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and
communities as we saw when I was running.”
That lag in energy, he added, appears “to be more pronounced with the
brothers.”
“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses; I’ve got a
problem with that,” he said. “Because part of it makes me think — and I’m
speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just
aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming
up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
Despite polls showing a generational divide in Black men’s support for
Harris, Obama’s remarks have drawn the ire of several prominent Black
Americans.
Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner argued Obama’s comments “belittled”
Black men.
“Why are Black men being lectured to? Why are Black men being belittled
in ways that no other voting group?” Turner said Thursday night on CNN.
She added she has a “lot of love” for Obama, “but for him to single out
Black men is wrong, and some of the Black men that I have talked to have
their reasons why they want to vote a different way, and even if some of
us may not like that, we have to respect it.”
“Unless President Barack Obama is gonna go out and lecture every other
group of men from other identity groups, my message for Democrats is
don’t bring it here to Black men who by and large don’t vote much
differently from Black women,” she said. “As a politician, we should be
trying to get all voters to vote, and hopefully there are a few good men out
there who do care about the stripping away of some of women’s bodily
autonomy.”
Despite Black voters overwhelmingly showing support for Harris, 1 in 4
Black men under the age of 50 expressed support for Trump, a recent poll
from NAACP and HIT Strategies found.
But actor Wendell Pierce said Obama’s words sent an “Awful message.”
“The party has to stop scapegoating Black men. Black men aren’t the
problem. White men and White women are,” Pierce said in a post on social
platform X.
Pierce’s latest comments were at odds with a message he sent to Black
men during the Democratic National Convention in August.
At the time, Pierce told Black men to remember “there’s blood on the
ballot box.”
“Any Black man that has an issue with a Black woman rising, they have to
look at their own inadequacy,” Pierce said. “What would make you so
fearful of someone who was so beloved of you, who was so loving to you,
like your mother and your grandmother and your aunts and your sisters,
that you cannot be proud and embolden yourself when you see someone
from your community rise up?”
Though Black voters — including Black men — voted overwhelmingly for
President Biden in 2020, Trump did make inroads with Black men.
Since Obama’s first election in 2008, Democrats’ support among Black
men has been slipping.
While exit polling shows 80 percent of Black men supported Biden in
2020, that number was down slightly from Hillary Clinton’s 82 percent in
2016 — which was significantly lower than Obama’s 95 percent in 2008
and his 87 percent in 2012.
Still, Pierce said, “Black men voting for Trump is insignificant.”
“This accusatorial tone will make some Black men stay home-which is
worse,” Pierce said. “Black men are questioning our party to find out what
their loyalty for decades earns them. That’s good. That’s healthy.
Democrats have the record to stand on and should embrace the challenge.
But after touring this country specifically engaging Black men, I will not
let my party leaders speak condescending towards them.”
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