Tag Archives: Southern Strategy

Criminal Intent

In these final days of the 2022 Midterm campaigns, the GOP has played its “crime” trump card. It’s a familiar racist trope that has been used for years by Republicans to scare White people into voting for them. Sadly, it works. “Crime” is the age-old euphemism for Black people. After all, it was Lee Atwater who developed the Southern Strategy under Reagan and the Republicans successfully leverage it with regularity. Case in point, George Herbert Walker Bush defeated Mike Dukakis with the infamous Willie Horton ad campaign.

What the GOP won’t tell voters is where the crime is really happening. You guessed it, in red states. In a recent report by Third Way entitled The Red State Murder Problem we find that murder rates are highest in cities run by Republicans. In 2020, eight of the 10 states with the highest murder rates voted for trump. GOP hypocrisy and lies are boundless. In fact, the biggest criminal appears to be trump himself, the titular head of the Republican party, with at least 55 uncharged criminal offenses since 2015.

So, what is the answer? Democrats must fight back with messaging that frames Republicans as the party that is anti law and order to include the fact that most, if not all, of the GOP does not follow or adhere to the U.S. Constitution that they claim to love. It is the GOP that refused to condemn the trump insurrection of January 6th and whitewashed the violence against Capitol Police officers. It is also the GOP that is fomenting The Big Lie. Democrats’ messaging should continue to drive this point while also emphasizing public safety.

November 8th is election day. If we are to preserve the U.S. democracy, get out and vote, and when you do, VOTE BLUE up and down the ballot. Don’t cede the U.S. democracy to a fascist GOP.

We Don’t Deserve Mr. Obama!

The United States of America does not deserve President Barack Hussein Obama. Other nations have said as much, and I am here to lend my amen. President Barack Obama ran on an idealistic platform of hope and change. Those disillusioned by the current reality should take a look in the mirror. We the people have failed this president . We have not been the change that this country needed. We have allowed old racist mentalities to prevail. A mentality that essentially fears any black person that does not cower or any black person that demonstrates above average intelligence. The racist code words of today are “uppity” and “professorial” each attributed to Mr. Obama. The latter just means that he is smarter than most and that his intelligence is resented by the privileged and the ignorant alike.

In 2009, Barack Obama came into office with a vision of hope and change for America, but Americans have persisted with racist attitudes that summarily have dashed hopes, and limited the first black president’s ability to bring about the change that is so desperately needed in our country. We are not post-racial, we are racist, sexist, violent and greedy! In 2010 and now in 2014, those who did vote made sure that they checked the power of the first black man in the White House. Democrats didn’t turn out the vote in 2010, and they ran away from the President in 2014. Democrats lost big in both mid-term elections, but even more so in 2014 relinquishing power to the Republicans in both houses of Congress. Losing the Senate presents a major challenge to governing in the last two years of the Obama Administration.

Mr. Obama came to power at one of the worst points in US history and he had to hit the ground running. Indeed, Cush has been running hard and well since 2009. Under the eight years of Bush, we were subjected to terrorist attacks, two wars, mounting deficits and an economic crash. Isn’t it curious that the United States of America was willing to elect the first black president when it seemed that the country was going off the cliff. Now that Mr. Obama has accomplished so much and brought the country back from the brink — passed Obamacare, brought soldiers home from two wars, saved the US economy that has now created jobs for 52 consecutive months, reduced the deficit, bailed out the auto industry, brought down the unemployment rate and, yes, I’ll give him credit for low gas prices too, it seems Democrats and definitely Republicans are all too eager to move on to 2016. It is perplexing that Democrats could not find one thing to run on as it pertains to Mr. Obama’s record during the 2014 mid-terms. Eric Holder is right, Americans are cowards when it comes down to confronting issues of race. The 2014 red state, mid-term elections brought out the profound cowardice and liberal race bias in Democrats. They would not dare run on the black president’s record in red America because these red Americans digest Fox news like a meth addict. These southern and plains states Americans, also known as the “real America” by the likes of Sarah Palin, have wholeheartedly embraced Lee Atwater’s Southern Strategy.

Then there’s the Cromnibus bill, also known as the continuing resolution omnibus spending bill which  was vigorously debated in Congress prior to its passage in both the House and the Senate. Democrats were up in arms, and rightly so, because of the proposed repeal of Dodd-Frank that was drafted by Citigroup and snuck into the bill at the last minute. But, don’t be mad at Obama or blame the president when he lobbies for the bill to pass. You did not vote. When you don’t vote, the wrong Party gets in power. Elections matter. So now, it’s pass this undesirable bill to keep the government open, or wait six months for the Republicans, when they control both houses of Congress, to draft and even uglier, more draconian bill. Vote next time so you can repeal the repeal of Dodd-Frank. There are some good things in the bill like funding for Obamacare and early childhood education.

These days, I have had to repeatedly curb my enthusiasm online out of concern that I may cross that invisible, but oh-so-real line into vitriolic speech. But I’ll tell you emphatically what I hate, the hypocrisy of the United States to impose it’s version of democracy on other nations while denying it here at home. Voting rights under attack — stripped, obstructed or manipulated to ensure that black and brown people are further marginalized and deterred from voting. News of black lives taken by Klan-like police officers and vigilante citizenry who shoot first. You know who I’m talking about — Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin. I am at a place where I prefer to not self-identify as the politically correct term, African American, but rather as a “black” person, and a member of the black nation worldwide.  Lest we forget, there are more people of color in this world than not. Besides, my true identity was stripped with that of my ancestors upon import to the United States.

I am equally disgusted with a political system that has pimped Barack Obama while it was lucrative to advance political careers, That’s you Democrats! By the way DCCC and DSCC, don’t call me any more for donations until you grow a spine and acknowledge the accomplishments of the black man, namely Barack Obama. Once Obama’s approval ratings took a downward turn after six years of governing, which is what Presidents must do, Democrats forgot the black guy’s name. As for Republicans, Barack Obama has been good business for you hatemongers too — you’ve sold plenty of “I hate Obama” books and beefed up ratings on TV and radio with your racist, vitriolic hate speech that stokes irrational fear of black people in most of rural America. GOP propaganda and hate speech has a strong and enduring market in the United States.

Today’s reality of the first black president of the United States is a wake up call for black people to the persistent racism of America. Some black people had been lulled into a false sense of equality, but now in the era of Obama, the stark reality of race bias has hit some squarely between the eyes and permeated their consciousness. Black America has experienced a cautionary tale — stay alert because civil rights gains of the past are not necessarily guaranteed today or tomorrow. Those who thought that it was enough to only vote in the general election were sadly mistaken. Black turnout in both 2010 and 2014 mid-term elections has been disappointing. What’s more concerning is many have yet to understand the impact of not participating in our democracy. Silence translates to consent.

As we approach these last two years of the Obama presidency, pundits like Michael Eric Dyson are now showing their true selves with strong indictments against the president regarding his response to the killings of Mike Brown and Eric Garner. As a point of fact, Mr. Obama’s Department of Justice is investigating both killings. Mr. Obama has already convened a task force to address the issue of black young men being killed by police departments in alarming numbers. So, I have a particular bone to pick with Mr. Dyson. As a black intellectual Mr. Dyson is now firmly in the Tavis Smiley-Cornell West camp. Jealousy is unattractive, and if he is so intelligent, why cannot he, of all people, understand that a black leader must govern with shrewdness and wisdom in this country. Besides, Mr. Obama represents all Americans and not just black Americans. For context, read my piece under Salient Points entitled, “Governing While Black”.

Then there is New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who confessed recently that Democrats made a mistake by passing healthcare reform. This career Democrat Senator is less interested in the healthcare of Americans than he is in re-election. Mr. Obama’s care and willingness to do hard things while in office has scared Democrats. Democracy for America Communications Director, T. Neil Sroka commented that anyone who thought health care reform “was the wrong way to earn the support of middle-class, working families needs to have their head examined.” Yes, many are jumping ship now; weary of six years of a black president in a racist country. I wouldn’t count the President out just yet though. He can still frustrate Republicans by Executive Order, and he has the power to veto their legislation.