Obama’s pursuit of black votes for Clinton ‘out of desperation’

Rasa - US President Barack Obama’s call on the African American community is “out of desperation” as there is no enthusiasm among blacks to vote for his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an analyst says.

News ID: 423694

Date: 19 September 2016 - 14:20

RNA - Obama, America’s first black president, made the call in an emotional speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation gala on Saturday night in Washington.

"We have achieved historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the African-American community. I will consider it a personal insult and an insult to my legacy if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election," he said. "You want to give me a good send-off? Go vote."

He further asserted that although his name is not on the ballot in the November 8 presidential election, “but our progress is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot.”

Like other US minorities, the majority of African Americans are not supportive of her rival, GOP nominee Donald Trump.

In a phone interview with Press TV on Sunday, African American activist Abayomi Azikiwe said black voters cannot pursue their interests in the Clinton campaign, either, which makes it necessary for the president to appeal to them.

“I think this is an act of desperation on the part of the Democratic Party,” he said. “As a result, they have to rely on the Obamas, both President Barack Obama as well as Michelle Obama, to campaign for Hillary Clinton.”

Therefore, he concluded, the president “has to give some credibility” to her campaign, although a “lack of enthusiasm is palpable,” among black voters to endorse the former first lady.

On the other hand, argued the editor at Pan-African News Wire, black voters cannot pursue their rights with President Clinton in the White House.

“There’s nothing that Hillary Clinton is really offering to the African American people in regard to their major concerns,” he noted.

Among many issues they face, African Americans suffer from the US police excessive force against them.  Several police killings of unarmed black men and women over the past years have sparked protests nationwide, giving rise to an activist movement called Black Lives Matter.

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