Mr. Thomas Don't Encourage Black People to Vote for our black Preident because he is black as a backhanded effort white voters to feel good about voting based on a candidate because he/she is white.

 Dear Reader,


In a posting on his website Cal Thomas castigates well-know news-media and other public outlets and cites by name several prominent and highly-visible and widely heard blacks encouraging them to re-elect President Obama solely on the basis that he is black and blacks need to stick together.   He is right to do so insofar as promotion of race as the sole reason for voting is racism; particularly when one seeks to trump a candidate's conduct or policies with the "race card."

However, the title of his commentary and the sub-text therein expose the real message which is "okay white people, vote for a white guy because black people do it all the time.  Unfortunately, some black people do just that.  But the persons cited by Mr. Thomas hardly reflect the overall black community, which is as focused squarely on the center of the mess we have all made of our country.

I say this because while Mr. Thomas points a lots of fingers at the sin of racism in all races and ethnic groups, and dare I say a proven fact in the history of white voters in this country, he makes no effort at all to expound upon why black voters might need to feel they should "stick together" and are susceptible to that call when they hear it.


I also believe I understand Mr. Thomas' motivation in doing so.  He can see the future and it doesn't look pretty from his particularly white, conservative-right, dwindling majority if what has happened to the black population in the country over the past five decades.


Let's examine this further.

First Mr. Thomas posits a question familiar to voters of all races and cites unemployment in the black community as an example of why blacks might consider voting on the basis of black unemployment is the highest it has been in 27 years.

Says Mr. Thomas, "If a black president cannot be held accountable for his policies and must receive the votes of African-Americans solely because of his race, then all of the marching for equal rights has been for nothing. The question ought to be this: are African-Americans, indeed, are all Americans, better off than they were when Barack Obama took office? By any objective standard, the answer must be “no.” How do black people expect their circumstances to improve if Obama is elected for another four years? If they conclude they will not, why not vote for someone who can create the conditions under which more of them might.

The unstated premise beneath this statement is that black American do not hold the President accountable based on his race and therefore all that has been accomplished in the fight for equal rights is meaningless.  Then, that black Americans need to be reminded that it's wrong to judge and vote solely on the basis of race, but all the rest of us Americans already know that.

Then, a little bit of slight of hand to misdirect.  Are we do believe that the President, with three years under his belt, has already failed the black community and it is especially the black community that needs to be reminded not to cast their votes solely on the basis of race. 

Then Mr. Thomas really gets to the heart of the matter and delivers his propaganda by calling in the use of some statistics, selectively carved out of the recent past by saying:

"How do black people expect their circumstances to improve if Obama is elected for another four years? If they conclude they will not, why not vote for someone who can create the conditions under which more of them might get a job, for example? Black unemployment is 16.7 percent, the highest it’s been in 27 years.


The period of 27 years is important here.  27 is not a number than just jumps to mind when one seeks to bolster their argument with some statistical impact.  This is the reason the past 27 years is so important.

If you go back any further then statistics get really, really nasty for the Republican Party.

Here are some facts.

Unemployment is highest for all racial groups, not just blacks.  The reason is the present miasma surrounding the economy; all solutions to which the President has proposed the Republican have rejected out-of-hand.  Anything Mr. Obama has to offer the Republicans is not just dead on arrival but dead before delivery.

By selecting only the past 27 years to examine Cal Thomas selectively leaves out the tremendous gains made by the black community, in all areas, due to the historic achievements that came about due to the efforts of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

But go back to those administrations, when change was truly happening withing and to the black community and see the reality.  The past 27 years also excludes the Nixon administration's accomplishments in the area of environmental legislation.  Now, that's a subject to which no current Republican candidate even pays lip-service.


Then Mr. Thomas' question concerning giving the first black U.S. President a second term based on the three years he has held office to date.


Over the past 45 years Republican's have held the presidency 30 years and Democrats 15 and one hundred percent of them have been white males.


So, Obama has been President 7% of that time.  The Democrats, as a whole, 33% of that time and the Republican an astonishing 60% of the time.  Then as far as race:  Blacks 7% and White 93%.  Are we to believe that this is a credit to either Republicans and white?  In general, it doesn't say much for either party or race, but it says nothing at all to those black voters who seek an alternative to white, Republican, males and there is only one person who fits that profile - the President we have right now.  


Then take a look at the following regarding changes in income relative to race and ask yourself if the black community shouldn't stick together and give Mr. Obama more time with a more moderate Congress.  Is it unreasonable for black voters to look to a candidate that most close represents them, both in race and outlook?   I don't think so.