Most African Americans believe in a benevolent guiding Providence, and this belief has only been strengthened by the remarkable events of the 2012 presidential campaign. Our candidate, President Barack Obama, has been vilified and villanized by Republicans and right-wing media ceaselessly since the day he was elected. The non-stop misrepresentation and scorning of his character and policies – indeed, even his citizenship status – was bolstered by an economy that is improving, but has remained sluggish, particularly in the African-American community. Those of us who support this president expected to see him fighting for his political life come October 2012. But a scarcely believable set of miscues including derisive commentsby his opponent, Mitt Romney, and by other highly visible Republicans on the campaign trail – along with the public finally coming to experience and appreciate some of the real benefits of “Obamacare” that they had been told was evil incarnate – has put Obama in the lead in national polling with the election less than a month away.
It is very important that African Americans, even in states like Missouri where the president is not expected to win, put their love and support for this historic president in action and vote on November 6. In fact, absentee voting has already started, so voters should see if they qualify for an absentee ballot and, if so, go cast one right away. A well-known spiritual asks, “Where were you when they crucified my Lord?” and we are continually called to witness the major events of our time. We know where we were on November 8, 2008 – we were at the polls, helping to elect this historic president. And now history calls us back to the polls on November 6, 2012 (or earlier, for those qualified to vote absentee). Even if we believe our candidate might not win in our state, we must contribute to his national popular vote totals, because we want, need and expect this great man to be returned to the White House by significant majorities in both the Electoral College and an unequivocal mandate of the American people.
A strong public mandate would be essential to the transformative second term in office of which this president is capable. The often center-right course he has steered in his first term was absolutely essential to his political survival, but in a second term he would be empowered to be much more of the audacious president we fell in love with on the campaign trail in 2008. Obama already is an historic candidate, the first African American ever elected to the nation’s highest office, but a strong popular mandate for his second term would give him the opportunity to be a truly transformative president and policy maker, freed from the burden of a looming reelection fight.
It also is important for Democratic leaders, nationally and in states with a significant black voter base, to understand how deeply revered Barack Obama remains in our community. Many white progressives who gave Obama his first surge as a presidential candidate and many white independents who contributed to his crushing victory in 2008 now say they will vote against Romney, rather than for Obama, and that is fine – we will take their vote for any reason. But white Democrats must realize that the black base does not see Obama with the same degree of criticism and skepticism that they do.
Obama is one of us, one of what Ossie Davis called our “black shining princes,” and Democrats are challenged to find a way to benefit from our unqualified, overwhelming support and regard for this president to sway black voters to keep voting down the entire ticket. It is well known that the size of the African-American voter turnout is critical to the success of many Democratic party candidates across the nation, and there is no stronger incentive for African-American voters to participate than affirming their love and respect for Obama at the polls on November 6.
