Obama urges blacks to vote and “guard the change”
The Drudge Report
September 19, 2010
Will the black community of America act in the best interests
of the nation and help defeat Obamao, or will they turn a blind eye and
support this man who is destroying the nation? This will be
interesting.
President Barack Obama, seeking to fire up an important part of his
support base ahead of November’s elections, told black leaders on
Saturday he wanted their support to “guard the change” he was
delivering.
“I need everybody here to go
back to your neighborhoods, and your workplaces, to your churches, and
barbershops, and beauty shops. Tell them we have more work to do. Tell
them we can’t wait to organize. Tell them that the time for action is
now,” he told the Congressional Black Caucus.
The words of America’s first black president showed a deliberate
effort to recapture the enthusiasm that had helped him win the White
House in 2008, after polls showed African- Americans much less likely to
vote than whites this year.
“It’s not surprising that a lot of people may not be feeling that
energized or that engaged right now,” he told an annual awards ceremony
hosted by the organization representing black members of the U.S.
Congress.
“A lot of folks may be feeling like politics is something they get
involved in every four years when there’s a presidential election, but
they don’t see why they should bother the rest of the time,” he said.
Republicans could make big gains in November as high unemployment and
slowing growth turns voters away from Obama’s Democrats, potentially
costing them control of Congress.
A Gallup survey in early September found only 25 percent of blacks
had given ‘quite a lot’ or ‘some’ thought to the November 2
congressional ballot, compared to 42 percent of whites.
This represents a much larger gap than during the presidential
election in 2008, when the two groups were about equal in their
intention to cast a ballot.
High turnout in the African-American community, together with the
enthusiastic support of young voters, was a striking feature of the 2008
election and an important part of Obama’s strategy in securing the
White House.
Success in repeating at least part of that performance in the
upcoming midterm poll, when voter turnout is traditionally low, could
make a big difference to congressional Democrats running in close races.
All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 37 of 100 Senate
seats are up for grabs.
“The last election was a changing of the guard — now we need to guard
the change,” Obama said.
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