Commentary OpinionELECTION 2014
Are blacks finally turning from Democrats?
David Limbaugh calls vulnerability with African-Americans party's Achilles' heal
By David Limbaugh
I read a shocking headline today: "Ex-Con: Most Black Youths See Obama As 'Deadbeat' Leader." Is this an obvious outlier, or could there be something to this?
The ex-con referred to in the headline is Paul McKinley, a member of Voices of the Ex-Offender, which is described as a grass-roots group of former inmates.
On the "Steve Malzberg Show" on NewsmaxTV, McKinley said: "Every time they question the president about the black community, he's apologetic or he's embarrassed. ... I would say, 97 percent of the time he (doesn't) even want to say that there even exists a black community. So a lot of the young people are seeing this double standard that the president has."
McKinley correctly observed that black Americans have identified with the Democratic Party since the mid-1960s, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. Since that time, they have been voting overwhelmingly Democratic.
McKinley's choice of the word "identified" is telling. Black Americans do identify with the Democratic Party, as distinguished from particularly aligning with its policies.
I have long believed that the Democrats' real Achilles' heel is its urgent, desperate need to retain some 90 percent of the black vote to win national elections, for if that percentage decreased even moderately, they would be in serious electoral jeopardy.
This Achilles' heel is exacerbated by the largely unspoken disconnect between the worldview of many blacks and the Democratic Party's agenda. There are many black Christians and other blacks who tend to incline toward social conservatism, which is anathema to the party with which they almost monolithically identify. I would bet that many blacks, even among those who vote reliably Democratic, lean toward economic conservatism, as well. Yet many of the blacks who aren't in line with the Democrats' obsession with abortion on demand and other socially liberal ideas still vote for Democrats.
I think this is purely and simply because most blacks have been convinced that only Democrats care about them. Sure, many believe that the evidence for this is that Republicans promote welfare reform and the like. But it's more than that for most.
I truly believe that many blacks vote Democratic mostly because of this noxious lie that Republicans and conservatives are racist, a pernicious slander that race-baiting black leaders and way too many Democratic politicians have peddled. This has been a pet peeve of mine for years, and it amazes me that it still works at all.
If this tactic didn't work, Democrats wouldn't keep using it, but they do, as when certain of their party leaders suggested that President George W. Bush deliberately abandoned blacks on their rooftops in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and when others suggested that a vote for a certain Republican would mean another black church would burn or the civil rights of the African-American community would be eliminated.
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If anything, Democrats are getting worse about this. The New York Times reported this week that in the closest Senate races across the South, Democrats are turning to racially charged messages – "invoking Travyon Martin's death, the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and Jim Crow-era segregation – to jolt African-Americans into voting and stop a Republican takeover in Washington."
The Times admitted: "The images and words they are using are striking for how overtly they play on fears of intimidation and repression. And their source is surprising. The effort is being led by national Democrats and their state party organizations – not, in most instances, by the shadowy and often untraceable political action committees that typically employ such provocative messages."
Democrats are employing this shameless smear all over. In North Carolina, a super PAC begun by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid aired an ad on black radio accusing Republican candidate Thom Tillis of supporting the kind of gun law that "caused the shooting death of Trayvon Martin." In Georgia, Democrats are distributing a flier warning blacks that their voting is the only way "to prevent another Ferguson." It shows two black children with cardboard signs saying "Don't Shoot."
These are so transparently over-the-top that I can't help but believe that even some black voters will be turned off by them. Indeed, there are signs that some black voters are tiring of the propaganda. I just saw an Internet video featuring a number of black men citing the Democrats' advocacy of the minimum-wage law as insulting. What good would a minimum-wage increase do, one asks, when there would be even fewer jobs?
These developments, coupled with the fact that black turnout is predicted to be very low in the upcoming elections, do not portend well for Democrats.
I am optimistic that at some point, many black voters will realize they have been used and abused by the Democratic Party, which is keeping them down, dependent on government and locked in inner-city schools and is overtly trying to alienate them against Republicans by categorically describing Republicans as racists.
The objective evidence is clear; it's only a matter of time before this translates into dramatically shifting voter patterns. What a glorious day that will be – and what a great day for America and all Americans.
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David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book is "Guilty By Reason of Insanity." Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com.
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