ATLANTA — Last week, former President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to a field office for the Kamala Harris presidential campaign located in Pittsburgh. While there, he chose to “speak some truths” regarding the difference in energy and turnout from what he saw when he was running for president in 2008. As with nearly any public appearance of Obama’s, cameras were rolling.
In short, Obama placed most of the blame for the reduced energy and turnout at the feet of Black men. “The brothas” was the phrase he used. Speaking to us “directly,” he said the choice was clear for Black men between Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump. On the one hand, Harris is concerned with issues that we care about, like housing, health care costs, and education. On the other hand, Trump had consistently shown a disregard for our community and us personally.
He marveled at how Black men could consider sitting this election out. A Black man in the room said he was not going to sit out. Obama replied, “But, you know, cousin Pookie might be.”
Obama went on to conclude that “part of it” might be that Black men just “aren’t feeling” the idea of having a woman as the president. He noted that women have “had our backs this entire time.” He grew incredulous as he ended, proclaiming that it was “unacceptable” for Black men to consider sitting the election out, or possibly voting for Trump, as “a sign of strength” or because “that’s what being a man is … putting a woman down.”
Obama’s tactics provoked strong disagreement from some other Democrats. Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner took issue with Obama’s comments, claiming he was “belittling” Black men. Actor Wendell Pierce, himself a Harris campaign surrogate, said that Obama’s words sent an “awful message.”
To be honest, I didn’t like his comments, either. I didn’t like what he said. I didn’t like where he said it. And I didn’t like when he said it.
Let’s start with who Obama is, because I think it matters here. Barack Obama was the first Black president of the United States of America. For better or worse, he will always be seen and treated as a representative for our community. Therefore, anything he says, especially if pertains to the Black community, will be amplified and digested by the general public in a manner consistent with his uniquely singular standing in the annals of history.
Black people of a certain generation (of which I would have included Obama) have always held fast to the rule of never complaining about our community’s problems among “mixed company,” meaning other races. The idea being that when we do so, we provide others with ammunition they will use to justify their racism towards us. For example, if I wrote a column lamenting the prevalence of violence among Black youth in Cleveland, a racist would most certainly read that column and say, “See, I told you!”
But I don’t think the danger of having these discussions in mixed company is necessarily giving racists ammunition. In my mind, the real danger with having these discussions in mixed company is that it allows others — even (perhaps especially) those of well meaning — to feel a bit less empathetic towards Black people, and thereby a bit less responsible for their role in perpetuating racial inequities, and thereby a bit less urgent about addressing them. Said another way, mixed-company conversations make the “well, it’s kind of your own fault” position seem more reasonable.
To be clear, I’m not saying that what Obama did was give racists ammunition. What I am saying is that his comments allowed for others — white people in particular — to feel less responsible for the outcome of this upcoming election, if Harris loses. They laid the foundation for the argument that if Harris loses, it will be the fault of Black men.
If you think I’m exaggerating, consider what happened when Hillary Clinton lost. Literally a day after the 2016 presidential election, CNN reported, “African-American, Latino and younger voters failed to show up at the polls in sufficient numbers Tuesday to propel Clinton into the White House.” CNN made this claim despite Clinton garnering 88% of the Black vote. They made this claim, even though Clinton performed worse than Obama in nearly every demographic: white voters, Asian voters, and even women voters.
I didn’t like that Obama opened that door. Or at least, he unlocked it. He’s smart enough to know what his words can do. He’s smart enough to know what public criticisms of Black men can do; how sticky they can be.
I didn’t like how Obama pitted Black men against Black women. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I cannot recall a time that Obama made a similar distinction (or chiding for that matter) to white voters. When speaking to white voters, he speaks of Democrats and Republicans. When speaking to Black voters, he speaks of the difference in “energy” between Black men and Black women. Whether or not he meant it, the unsaid implication is that white voters have a broader spectrum of opinion than Black voters. This thinking may be why some Black men (and women) “just aren’t feeling” the Democratic Party.
To be fair, the sentiment that Obama expressed, that some Black men are just uncomfortable with a woman as president, is a real one. I wrote about hearing that sentiment myself in the barbershop. Still, there’s a responsible way to have the discussion. In my column, I mentioned it as one opinion of several. Obama mentioned it as the sole (or at least primary) reason for only 70% of Black men supporting Harris.
The reality is Harris will win the Black vote in this election, and she will do so handily. Democrats always do. The only question is how many of us turn out. Democrats must accept the hard truth that they will likely never again see the kind of Black vote turnout that they saw during the Obama years. You will only get that again (maybe) if you find another Obama. Again, he is a singular figure.
Eric Foster is a columnist for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.
The only option is to make do with what you have. With less than a month to go to Election Day, Democrats may want to take a page from the Republican playbook and start playing to the base, rather than criticizing it. Harris appears to be doing just that by just releasing her economic agenda for Black men.
Hopefully, the next time Obama wants to speak to Black men “directly,” he will have something better to say.
Eric Foster, a community member of the editorial board, is a columnist for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com. Foster is a lawyer in private practice. The views expressed are his own.
To reach Eric Foster: [email protected]
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