In an utterly classless act, one of the most brazen examples of race-baiting in modern politics, former President Obama – watching Kamilla Harris, his chosen candidate for 2024, slide among black males – is now trying to shame black males, telling them they must vote skin color.
In another example of graceless, raunchy, barrel-scraping politics, Obama had the audacity not of hope but to pull from the bottom of the deck, accusing black males that Harris needed to win Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Michigan of being anti-woman, insufficiently racist.
I kid you not, his line of approach was out of a political trick manual, Obama’s addendum to Sol Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.” He taunted working-class black males across America, from his privileged, multi-million-dollar pedestal, to ignore their economic demise under Biden-Harris.
Obama literally sought to shame black American males – as a group, thus also ignoring their individuality and voter status – into voting for Harris, because of her skin color and gender.
After accusing Trump of being racist, Obama attacked black men who might be “sitting out.” “I’ve got a problem with that because – because part of it makes me think, and I’m speaking to men directly now, part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.”
Feeling the idea? “And so now you’re thinking about sitting out or even 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?”
Denigrating? Strength? Putting women down? Is that what black men are doing, when they favor someone who posted the strongest economic gains for black Americans in history? Because they want a better future, economically, as US citizens, public safety for kids, and a secure community?
Wrote one black male, in response: “The tactic of racial manipulation by the Democratic Party is what pushed me, a black man, away from the party into political independence. The idea that someone deserves my vote only because I exist in a particular image while everyone else gets a choice has always felt incredibly insulting to me.”
Wasn’t it Obama who chose Biden, and Biden who chose Harris – as he said – for her skin color and gender? Wasn’t it Biden who said, “If you ain’t votin’ for me, you ain’t black”? Does it get more insulting, politically demeaning, about identity politics, or – in a word – racist?
Most honest, critically thinking, rational voters with any dignity will read this and shake their heads. Since when do we walk around telling people we are qualified – or unqualified – by skin color? That racism is what really counts, not rights or economics? How regressive is that?
No, Obama stooped low this time, lower than he has before, and seems content to invite in the name of power consolidation a race war, or worse an internal war for black males, sowing internal discord in this segment of America for his own gain, having people abandon their individuality for race.
What does this strange left turn, a kind of overt appeal to racism, bullying, or shaming, and these unjustified accusations of sexism pushed over on black males by Obama really mean?
Three things, short and sweet: Harris is cruising to lose if voters of all races and genders vote to protect rights, economic interests, families, and their personal, community, and national security. Black males in swing states are surging for Trump, against Harris. And Obama knows it.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).
