"If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black."- Joe Biden on "The Breakfast Club," 2020
"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."- Barack Obama, last week.
The condescension inherent in these remarks is one reason why especially young Black men are moving away from the Democratic Party to which Blacks have been joined at the hip since the Franklin Roosevelt administration. This kind of tribal "group think" is designed to keep certain demographics in line and voting in perpetuity for Democrats.
Former President Obama, the only former president in my lifetime not to leave Washington after his administration ended (some believe he has been behaving as a third- term president behind the scenes of the Biden-Harris administration), has revealed by his comments there is much worry in the party that even a small departure of young Black voters could spell doom for Democrats in the coming election.
Obama is right to be concerned. According to the 2024 National Black Voter Project Longitudinal Study, a growing number of young Black voters are becoming more conservative than their Civil Rights-era parents and grandparents.
The survey shows that the highest percentage of Black conservatives, at 22.2 percent, are actually those between the ages of 18 to 29. The 30 to 44 age group makes up 18.9 percent, 45 to 64 are at 10.1 percent, and the oldest who are 65 and over come in at 4.3 percent.
Obama's chiding of young Black men is not likely to sit well with them. That Democrats have taken the Black vote for granted is a given, but more are starting to ask "what have you done for us?"
When Obama won the presidency, I wrote that he could have a life- changing influence on African Americans by endorsing school choice. Black parents in especially inner cities like Chicago have told pollsters they want to send their children to better schools, but Democrats have ignored them because of the influence (and money) of the teacher's unions.
African Americans have been disproportionately and negatively affected for decades by Democrat policies - from the welfare state, to failed public schools, high crime in their neighborhoods and the highest abortion rate of any demographic group. Many have said politicians care about their vote (and show up at Black churches) only in an election year and then never keep their promises.
It's the same with "women's issues." The very term implies that all women think - or should think - alike, especially when it comes to abortion. Contrary views are ignored or mocked by the major media. This, too, is condescension and a form of misogyny.
If Republicans can solidify even a small percentage of young Black voters, they will have secured for themselves victories up and down the ballot in this election and possibly for many elections to come. This assumes they will follow through on their promises, especially on the economy and education.
One possible line Republicans might use is "why are Democrats pro-choice when it comes to abortion, but anti-choice for educating children who are born?"
Another is a quote from the African-American economist Thomas Sowell: "Barack Obama's political genius is his ability to say things that will sound good to people who have not followed the issues in any detail - regardless of how obviously fraudulent what he says may be to those who have."