By Lucius Gantt
Two and a half cheers for the Joe Biden Presidential Campaign. Biden finally spent money with some Black newspaper owners. The buy was probably via the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) but, if you don’t know, less than one half of African American newspapers in the United States are members of the organization.
No disrespect, but Black media buys have not been the “rule” for Joe Biden, it is the exception. Donald Trump and Mike Bloomberg bought Black media ads during the primary election but Joe did not.
To Black political media professionals who know how to target and market to ALL credible Black media companies, the late and singular Biden buy could easily be construed as “hush N-word” dollars!
So, put the cheap champagne away.
Too many people of color are super ready to pop bottles on election day because they think they will elect a new, better President of the United States.
Don’t believe the internet hype. What you think will inevitably be a political tsunami just might be a splash or a sprinkle!
Democratic nominee Joe Biden and other Democrats could lose their elections in a heartbeat!
Polls say Biden is ahead of Donald Trump in all the battleground states but so was Hillary Clinton in July 2016.
Let me tell you how the Democrats could easily lose.
Democrats are notorious for demanding that all professional political help they use come from “the loop” or be referred or recommended by Democratic power brokers.
Problem with that is the fact that Democrats have been a political football team that only knows one play: use Democratic dollars to lure white males back into the Democratic locker room by being nearly as conservative as their Republican opponents.
When Barack Obama was elected President, Homer, Jethro and Billy Bob soon joined their sheet-wearing relatives in the GOP. Despite what the highly paid Democratic consultants spent your campaign contributions on, white male Democrats crossed party lines and voted early and often for Republicans.
Party power brokers could never understand that white Democratic males weren’t tricked into voting for GOP candidates, they wanted Republicans to defeat their own Democratic candidates.
Democrats could lose by trying to be mini-me Republicans that will be conservative at the State Fair and liberal at the Black church.
Democrats could lose by playing loop-de-loop!
Democratic decision makers don’t care who the most influential Black community members are, what the most politically professional Black companies are, what people can create the most effective political messages are or who has the most effective and winning political experience, or “who can deliver” (or generate) votes at the polls on voting day.
Democratic decision makers won’t consider adding an individual or business to the Democratic team unless said people or firms are in the loop, meaning you are acceptable to and approved by the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Party, or someone that is a choice of a desirable state or local Democratic candidate.
The DNC already has their usual election-losing Negro Democrats on the payrolls. Joe Biden has those he wants and politicians like Rep. Jim Clyburn can suggest– not demand– who he wants to “help” Democrats win national elections.
What’s wrong with that, you ask? That strategy hasn’t ever worked because “any” Negro won’t do!
Fulton County, Georgia Black Democrats are very concerned about the turnout this fall in Atlanta because the Democrats hired a white woman from some place like Iowa to come and advise them how to get red state Georgia voters to vote Democratic. Yes, that strategy is in place in your state, too. Don’t even consider hiring local politicos. Bring in political advisors from far, far away, Democratic consultants believe.
Also, I’ve heard that Biden asked Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms who Democrats should hire in Atlanta to run Get Out The Vote operations and Keisha recommended a guy that worked on her campaign.
Well, if the Mayor’s Primary race only turned out 26% of the registered voters for Keisha, I wouldn’t hire that kind of consultant to turn out the votes in a rat race!
To me, that’s like telling the Atlanta Braves major league baseball team to hire someone to bat cleanup that played T-ball when they were in the first grade of school.
Problem with all of that is that elections are scientific. Elections are technological. People learn how to generate votes and win elections after years and years of study and work.
Winners don’t throw young politicos into political oceans that only want to wet their feet. Winners want consultants that can swim, surf and snorkel, so to speak!
All jokes aside, Democrats could lose if they only hire people in the loop that have a history of losing to Republican candidates while Republicans will hire anybody and everybody they think can help them win political contests and they don’t care what race, creed and color you are if you can generate, or suppress, votes!
Finally, Democrats could lose in November if they refuse to abandon and discredit their long time “two-step tango” with their most loyal and most enthusiastic base, America’s Black voting block!
Forever, high paid white consultants have recommended that Democratic decision makers spend every dollar they could to get closet klan people like Bruce, Amy and Becky to shun the GOP and to vote for Democratic candidates.
How has that worked for the consultants that get paid up to $20,000 per month, plus a car, plus a computer, plus a cell phone and an apartment or condo? It really hasn’t.
There was a “wave” in 2018 propelled by Black women but too many GOP Governors and other officials walked on the water straight to Governor’s mansions in Florida, Georgia and other states.
Democrats must show more respect to Black media companies, Black internet sites, Black political professionals and Black political vendors if they hope to get the extraordinary turn out they will need to defeat the far more election savvy Republicans.
They idea that Blacks are too politically isolated and stupid to consider alternative political parties and candidates is dangerous and should be immediately discredited! The idea that many Black voters will just not vote in November is not a far-fetched scenario.
Reports are that some Black activists are not that enthused about either Presidential candidate, and some influential national Black religious leaders are urging their congregations to consider not voting at all.
I think you should vote. No vote is a vote for Donald Trump.
Just understand the thrill of an anticipated victory could turn into the agony of a political defeat if Democrats take their base of Black voters for granted and refuse to spend enough money with Black vote influencers to get winning results so they can continue to try to woo Bubba back into the Democratic fold.
Conservative white males have left the Dems for good. Believe that!
Lucius is a contributing columnist to NNPA newspapers around the nation, and the author of “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” available on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.