Edward Wyckoff Williams
It remains to be seen what comes of the Democrats’ good intentions, but the president is already thinking ahead.
By Edward Wyckoff Williams
It is no surprise that President Barack Obama, who has faced improbable odds and still managed to do the impossible, will soon face one of his greatest challenges yet.
The 2014 midterms are perhaps the most important election of Obama’s presidency, offering the last opportunity to circumvent an obstinate GOP committed to his failure. But given what’s at stake — maintaining the Senate while attempting to take back the House, with its high number of gerrymandered Republican districts — the Democratic Party will need to galvanise African-American, Hispanic and youth voters of all races at levels not seen since 2008.
Democrats must find qualified candidates who reflect the rainbow coalition that elected Obama in the first place.
The recent GOP media frenzy, fuelling pseudo-scandals and hurling accusations of misconduct and incompetence, is the latest manifestation of a Republican commitment to playing dirty politics. Benghazi-gate is designed to keep the conservative base angry and engaged, while the Associated Press subpoena affair pits the media against the White House in a head-to-head battle, a strategy for a GOP that has consistently accused the “mainstream media” of being too favourable to the president.
Likewise, the IRS debacle is a shrewd effort to ensure that conservative and tea party super PACs like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS will maintain an unbridled ability to raise unlimited funds, campaigning in key legislative districts to defeat liberal Democratic candidates and moderate Republican alternatives for congressional, state and local positions.
If the Republicans win the 2014 midterms, the result may lead to a wave of newly elected right-wing extremists — like those who gave Republicans the House in 2010 — who will continue the GOP’s mission of obstructing key issues like gun control, immigration reform, universal healthcare and women’s reproductive freedom. Worst, the GOP’s efforts may succeed if the historical trend of low voter turnout in midterm elections manifests itself again in 2014.
“I don’t think Democrats understand how difficult it will be to mobilise black and brown voters when Obama is not at the top of the ticket,” veteran Representative Elijah Cummings, D-Md, said of 2014 midterms. “And we need a strategy. Not just talking points.”
Cummings, who has spent the past few months working to get a gun-control bill passed — only to see his efforts thwarted by the Senate’s Republican minority — is concerned. “I hadn’t considered how the Republicans are playing a long game, but they are. The midterms will matter even more now; otherwise GOP stubbornness spells doom for Obama’s second-term agenda and his legislative legacy.”
Voter-participation rates from the 2010 midterms offer reasons for hope and cautious action. Key to Obama’s 2008 victory and his subsequent “shellacking” in 2010 was the youth vote, African-American youth in particular. Voters ages 18 to 29 helped catapult Obama to office by making up 18 percent of voters overall, according to a Tufts University study. By the 2010 midterms, the figure imploded to 9 percent.
In 2008, young African-Americans dominated the landscape among youth voters, showing the strongest turnout of any racial or ethnic group since 1972, according to the study. Hardly discussed is the fact that this “Obama effect” continued into the midterms, with young black voters delivering a 27.5 percent participation rate, up from 24 percent in 2006. Young whites experienced a dramatic decrease, from 28 percent in 2006 to 24.9 percent in 2010. The drop among white voters may be a direct result of the Republican Party’s racially divisive and obstructionist tactics used against the presidency. Its strategy of deliberately making government dysfunctional and using it as a wedge issue led voters to become disillusioned — thereby choosing to stay home.
Despite the upward tick in the African-American youth vote in 2010, the overall percentage of black voters declined. The percentages of young voters, African-American and Hispanic voters decreased — by 55 percent, 43 percent and 40 percent respectively.
But getting voters to the polls isn’t the only concern. Israel’s insights underpin a vital issue for Democrats: Key to victory will be running people of colour with whom Obama can campaign to help boost minority and youth turnout. With the face of congressional leadership being Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and a possible 2016 primary featuring Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, Democrats have a diversity problem, too. Investment in young black and brown candidates for House, Senate and gubernatorial races is essential to ensure Obama’s electoral legacy — not just his legislative one.
The good news? The DCCC appears to have learned lessons from the ground-game offensive perfected by the Obama for America team in 2008 and 2012. In addition to underestimating the demographic shift that delivered him a multiracial coalition, Republicans also lacked campaign resources, especially in battleground states like Florida and Ohio. These are places where Obama’s campaign offices never closed after 2008 — and the DCCC intends to keep the effort going.
It remains to be seen what comes of the Democrats’ good intentions, but Obama is already thinking ahead. He has committed to eight fundraisers on behalf of the DCCC and two for the DSCC — its Senate equivalent — and outpaced Republicans on donations. With a GOP hell-bent on turning hope into fear and change into indifference, Obama’s ground game must become making the Republican majority obsolete. WP-BLOOMBERG
It remains to be seen what comes of the Democrats’ good intentions, but the president is already thinking ahead.
By Edward Wyckoff Williams
It is no surprise that President Barack Obama, who has faced improbable odds and still managed to do the impossible, will soon face one of his greatest challenges yet.
The 2014 midterms are perhaps the most important election of Obama’s presidency, offering the last opportunity to circumvent an obstinate GOP committed to his failure. But given what’s at stake — maintaining the Senate while attempting to take back the House, with its high number of gerrymandered Republican districts — the Democratic Party will need to galvanise African-American, Hispanic and youth voters of all races at levels not seen since 2008.
Democrats must find qualified candidates who reflect the rainbow coalition that elected Obama in the first place.
The recent GOP media frenzy, fuelling pseudo-scandals and hurling accusations of misconduct and incompetence, is the latest manifestation of a Republican commitment to playing dirty politics. Benghazi-gate is designed to keep the conservative base angry and engaged, while the Associated Press subpoena affair pits the media against the White House in a head-to-head battle, a strategy for a GOP that has consistently accused the “mainstream media” of being too favourable to the president.
Likewise, the IRS debacle is a shrewd effort to ensure that conservative and tea party super PACs like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS will maintain an unbridled ability to raise unlimited funds, campaigning in key legislative districts to defeat liberal Democratic candidates and moderate Republican alternatives for congressional, state and local positions.
If the Republicans win the 2014 midterms, the result may lead to a wave of newly elected right-wing extremists — like those who gave Republicans the House in 2010 — who will continue the GOP’s mission of obstructing key issues like gun control, immigration reform, universal healthcare and women’s reproductive freedom. Worst, the GOP’s efforts may succeed if the historical trend of low voter turnout in midterm elections manifests itself again in 2014.
“I don’t think Democrats understand how difficult it will be to mobilise black and brown voters when Obama is not at the top of the ticket,” veteran Representative Elijah Cummings, D-Md, said of 2014 midterms. “And we need a strategy. Not just talking points.”
Cummings, who has spent the past few months working to get a gun-control bill passed — only to see his efforts thwarted by the Senate’s Republican minority — is concerned. “I hadn’t considered how the Republicans are playing a long game, but they are. The midterms will matter even more now; otherwise GOP stubbornness spells doom for Obama’s second-term agenda and his legislative legacy.”
Voter-participation rates from the 2010 midterms offer reasons for hope and cautious action. Key to Obama’s 2008 victory and his subsequent “shellacking” in 2010 was the youth vote, African-American youth in particular. Voters ages 18 to 29 helped catapult Obama to office by making up 18 percent of voters overall, according to a Tufts University study. By the 2010 midterms, the figure imploded to 9 percent.
In 2008, young African-Americans dominated the landscape among youth voters, showing the strongest turnout of any racial or ethnic group since 1972, according to the study. Hardly discussed is the fact that this “Obama effect” continued into the midterms, with young black voters delivering a 27.5 percent participation rate, up from 24 percent in 2006. Young whites experienced a dramatic decrease, from 28 percent in 2006 to 24.9 percent in 2010. The drop among white voters may be a direct result of the Republican Party’s racially divisive and obstructionist tactics used against the presidency. Its strategy of deliberately making government dysfunctional and using it as a wedge issue led voters to become disillusioned — thereby choosing to stay home.
Despite the upward tick in the African-American youth vote in 2010, the overall percentage of black voters declined. The percentages of young voters, African-American and Hispanic voters decreased — by 55 percent, 43 percent and 40 percent respectively.
But getting voters to the polls isn’t the only concern. Israel’s insights underpin a vital issue for Democrats: Key to victory will be running people of colour with whom Obama can campaign to help boost minority and youth turnout. With the face of congressional leadership being Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and a possible 2016 primary featuring Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, Democrats have a diversity problem, too. Investment in young black and brown candidates for House, Senate and gubernatorial races is essential to ensure Obama’s electoral legacy — not just his legislative one.
The good news? The DCCC appears to have learned lessons from the ground-game offensive perfected by the Obama for America team in 2008 and 2012. In addition to underestimating the demographic shift that delivered him a multiracial coalition, Republicans also lacked campaign resources, especially in battleground states like Florida and Ohio. These are places where Obama’s campaign offices never closed after 2008 — and the DCCC intends to keep the effort going.
It remains to be seen what comes of the Democrats’ good intentions, but Obama is already thinking ahead. He has committed to eight fundraisers on behalf of the DCCC and two for the DSCC — its Senate equivalent — and outpaced Republicans on donations. With a GOP hell-bent on turning hope into fear and change into indifference, Obama’s ground game must become making the Republican majority obsolete. WP-BLOOMBERG
