“Not so fast,” some black voters in South Carolina seemed to be saying today. Criticism of Obama’s policies are fair game.
Joy Reid of MSNBC just filed this report, after she walked through Columbia, South Carolina’s barbershops and streets all day.
“What we found just walking, going around Columbia...is really not a lot of passion here with African-Americans for the Clinton candidacy, even among older African-Americans, just sort of an ‘undecided’ sense.
And, a real lobbying campaign that really is sort of reminiscent of 2008 where younger African-Americans are lobbying their parents, lobbying their grandparents, really pushing older African-Americans to give Sanders a chance.”
It’s pretty mind-blowing actually.
She did make an attempt to parse it for a moment, by saying it might have been just the part of town she was in or just the day, but you could tell she was a little stunned and maybe slightly excited by this surprise development.
But ultimately, she wound up comparing the energy on the ground from young black voters to being similar to what was generated there in 2008 for Obama.
Seems folks feel like Obama was a start, but there’s plenty more to do.
“The expectations are much higher (after Obama). Now, what people want is not what Hillary Clinton is saying, to ‘stay the course,’ but ‘we want more change.’”
These findings would seem to jeopardize Hillary’s latest pandering gambit, shamelessly wanting to appear as Obama’s rightful successor by splicing herself to him at any cost.
Allegiance to Obama in the black community is a complicated thing, apparent to anyone really paying attention. It’s not monolithic. People love Obama, but may not love all his policies. And it’s ok to say so too.
What makes me particularly excited about this not surprising but welcomed finding is to see the undercurrent bubbling up there is coming off a big week of high profile activists/writers coming to bat for Sanders too.
As an activist and one who loves his books, it was one after another of activist heroes/advocacy authors, from Michelle Alexander to Ta-Nehisi Coates to the venerable icon Harry Belafonte, either endorsing him, publicly committing to voting for him or making the case why blacks folks shouldn’t vote for Clinton. As I’ve said with respect to the “endorsements” sweepstakes, I personally find that I build my own life’s philosophies and am endlessly edified by the great authors, activists and artists who have enriched my life immeasurably, much more than any politician ever has.
Add to that, the indefatigable and brilliant Ben Jealous, and we have what is shaping up to be some roster to help penetrate the black community’s familiarity with Bernie Sanders.
My feeling is we are in a transformational moment in our political history, and as former counsel to Pres. Bill Clinton said so incisively last week about the mood of the electorate, which is confirmed by this snapshot today in Columbia, SC, "It’s almost over for Hillary: This election is a mass insurrection against a rigged system.” I’m starting to feel good about Bernie’s chances in South Carolina.
h/t to andrew54 for the clip.