It is not by accident that President Obama is campaigning hard among youth and black voters these days, the two voting blocs that made possible his victory (53-46 million in popular votes) over Senator McCain in 2008. The 7 million vote difference was made possible by huge turnouts from these two groups on election day. For the upcoming November elections, Obama is counting on them once again.
No one could fault African-Americans for supporting Obama wholeheartedly in 2008 because they took pride in having a black candidate vie for the highest political office in the land and win it. By supporting him, they were, in a big way, telling the world that in America, regardless of one’s background, anyone could make it.
No one could also fault the young for casting their vote for Obama with vigor and enthusiasm. With a fresh outlook on the political world they were about to inhabit, they did believe in his message of hope. Their idealism convinced them that indeed change is possible.
But has Obama delivered for them during the past two years? Has he made good on his message of change? If unemployment is any indicator of his inability to deliver, it is most evident in these two groups, hardest hit by the current economic crisis.
For Obama to go back to them and solicit their votes once again despite empty promises could only mean one thing: he is just using them. It seems he has no respect for their ability to make intelligent and good decisions for themselves. It seems he is viewing them as these unenlightened, naive, and gullible voting blocs that could be persuaded by any message he presents to them.
During the 2008 campaign, there were nagging suspicions that perhaps the black community had been dealt the racial card, while the youth were viewed as malleable and naive. The way Mr. Obama is pandering to them these days, perrhaps both suspicions are true after all.
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