Comments on: WaPo looks at Obama hurdles in expanding black vote

By: test » Blog Archive » WaPo looks at Obama hurdles in expanding black vote

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:11:37 +0000

[...] Taniel wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptObama, who himself led a huge voter-registration drive in Chicago in 1992, has said he could compete in states such as Mississippi by increasing black turnout by 30 percent. A Post analysis suggests it will take more than that to win … Read the rest of this great post here [...]

By: GreenDreams

GreenDreams — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:36:15 +0000

Business need not be unregulated to be profitable. But I know the platform, believe me. Unfettered corporate capitalism is the goal, and no social spending. Privatize everything, including defense and disaster relief, disappear the government entirely, then everything will be perfect. (For 0.1% of the population.)

It's probably pointless to debate it, because you believe in that ideology.

The record is pretty clear: public wealth is turned into private wealth, of which the wealthy have plenty; and private debt is turned into public debt, of which we have plenty. Your solution is more of the same?

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:30:20 +0000

Greendreams,

When you look at pay parity, fee healthcare, free college, paid time off; it seems like blatant pandering without to the effect on the economy. Why are we back to the quesiton of how do you have employees withouth employers. The problem with the Democratic Party's economic platform is that everyone cannot work for the government. Why would anyone start a new business while the coming Obama Administration is proposing new regulatory programs.

By: GreenDreams

GreenDreams — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:44:41 +0000

Latinos will outnumber both blacks (they already do) and whites (they will soon). But let's talk about American voters. America has been sold a bill of goods. Since Reagan, we have been told that if we (further) empower the rich, they'll make the economy hum and that will lift all boats. Nonsense. The spending power of the middle class has fallen steadily under "Reaganomics" or "trickle down" economics. Once the middle class gets it (they may be getting it) that they've been screwed, there is truly no safe harbor for these policies.

This is a truism: well over 1/2 of the population is below average in wealth. Policies that give them a better shot should be the democratic (small d) choice. Right now, that's the Democratic (big D) platform. Shift the rules to protect consumers, increase educational opportunities, slay the health care dragon, stop sending our resources overseas and show some fiscal responsibility, and we're on the right track.

By: Davebo

Davebo — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:24:12 +0000

I think it's a mistake to assume that among other groups Obama will do roughly as well as Kerry did in 2004.

First, I think it's obvious Obama is running a much better campaign than Kerry did in 2004 and secondly, the mood of the electorate is vastly different than it was in 2004.

None of this means Obama will carry Georgia or Nevada, but he certainly could.

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:28:14 +0000

Of course, the flip side is that there is no demographic group where the Repubicans can expand their vote. The Republicans get few non-white voters and has been losing upper class whites by a huge margin. The Republicans have probably maxed out the number of middle class whites that they will receive.

Since whites as a percentage of the population are shrinking, there is no way that the Republicans will remain in power.

A better question is what will happen when the U.S. is left with one political party. How will a Democratic controlled Justice Department interpret the Voting Rights Act will the U.S. only has one relevant political party? Will blacks gain power or lose power as the Republican Party completes its own collapse.

My guess is that in the long run, blacks will lose power as the U.S. becomes a one party state. Blacks like Cynthia McKinney can only exist as long as their is two political parties and see just needed the black vote to win. In a Democratic Primary where all of the former Republicans are voting, blacks will lose power since there will be fewer black-only safe seats.