The following article, Obama Tanked: He Can’t Save Kamala Harris, was first published on The Black Sphere.
Barack Obama is a political has-been. And that’s why I’m always perplexed when people try to make him into a shot-caller.
Barack Obama doesn’t call the shots in his own home. We all know that Michelle is the man of the Obama household, and I’m not referencing the “Mike” rumors.
Barack is a metrosexual, bisexual man who married a stone-cold sista to give him street cred for his political career. On that note, he succeeded. Michelle played her role well, but the two run on parallel paths outside of politics.
Interestingly, Kamala Harris invoked her girlfriend Barack to help her campaign, and not Michelle. Hmm.
Regardless of which Obama Harris picked, they can’t save her. No matter, Barack got the call to rescue Harris from Hurricane Trump. But things haven’t gone well.
Barack was chosen to get Harris the Black male vote?
Talk about giving Barack a boulder and calling him Sisyphus. Obama has a rough task to convince Black men to support Harris. Knowing the polls where Black men support Trump in massive numbers, Obama tried to embarrass Black men into voting for Harris:
“And 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.”
He said that the “women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time.”
“When we get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting,” he said.
“And now you’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down? That’s not acceptable.”
Almost universally, Obama’s message has backfired on Harris-Walz, and of course Obama. And on Obama. Here’s what he said about himself:
“I am the hopey changey guy so I understand people feeling frustrated, feeling we can do better,” Obama said. “What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania. I don’t understand that.”
Perhaps Obama doesn’t understand the same way he didn’t understand how Trump would save Carrier?
You don’t send a sissy to do a man’s job.
Rest assured: no real man gives a sh*t about what Obama has to say. Laughably, Barack Obama’s involvement in Kamala Harris’s campaign is an attempt to leverage his perceived residual influence with Black voters. But his influence with Black men is practically nonexistent.
Obama, though once a powerful figure in mobilizing the Black vote, no longer holds the sway he did during his first election. As I’ve pointed out many times, by the end of Obama’s second term, he couldn’t fill a phone booth with Black supporters.
Over the years, especially during his presidency, many Black men grew disillusioned with his policies. Obama didn’t improve the quality of life for Blacks (or anybody), as he created rampant unemployment, and he did nothing to address criminal justice reform, or economic disparity within their communities. Consequently, his endorsement is meaningless and more symbolic for hard-core Democrats who want to believe he maintains some Svengali-like influence over the Black vote.
When it comes to Kamala Harris, her record as California’s Attorney General and her role in the Biden administration have not resonated well with Black men. Harris’s history of tough-on-crime policies, including controversial decisions around incarceration, particularly of Black men, continue to haunt her political career. Black men don’t trust Harris based on her past, and based on what they’ve witnessed in her flip-flopping on multiple issues.
Even the media can no longer run cover on the polling.
They publicly report now that Trump is surging. And while these polls and trends bode well for Trump, they pale to the real polls of the campaigns which have Trump ahead by insurmountable (uncheatable) numbers.
Frankly, Obama stepping in to campaign for Harris shows signs of desperation by the Harris camp. His speeches invoke nostalgia that Blacks no longer feel, due his failed administration. And his speeches to nothing to address the deeper frustrations that many Black men have with Harris or the Democratic Party as a whole. Because of this, Obama can’t move the needle on Black male support for Harris, in what can be rightfully described as too little too late.
Barack Obama’s supposed star power may shine brightly in fundraising certain circles. But when it comes to securing Black male votes for Kamala Harris, he’s lost his street cred. His impact is limited, at best.
Democrats may wish that Obama could bridge this gap, but the reality is that the Black male vote has shifted significantly since his presidency, and it will take more than Obama’s charm to bring them back into the fold.
Ironically, if Harris wants the Black male vote, she would have done better by sending Michelle Obama and not Barack.
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