A Black Man in the White House: Barack Obama and the Triggering of America’s Racial-Aversion Crisis

218 Pages·2016·19.87 MB·English

by  Cornell Belcher

Borock Obomo and the Triggering of
America's Racial-Aversion Crisis
CORNELL BELCHER
by
foreword by Governor Howard Dean
Borack Obama and the Triggering of
America's Racial-Aversion Crisis
CORNELL BELCHER
UPTOWN
PROR:SSIONAL
PRESS
Thank you John and Irene Belcher
for being the best parents in the world.
An Uptown Professional Press Book
Published by Water Street Press
Healdsburg, California
Water Street Press paperback edition published October 1016
Copyright by Cornell Belcher, 1016
All rights reserved, including che right co reproduce chis book
in whole or in part. For information, contact Water Street Press,
www.wacerstreecpressbooks.com.
Designer Credits
Cover arc by Sally Eckhoff
Interior design by Typeflow
Produced in che USA
Library ofC ongress Concrol Number: :1016955496
ISBN 978·1·61134·360·8

Contents
Foreword g
Author's Note k
Introduction: A Catastrophic Moment 1
A Brief History of Power Tools 5
January 20, 2009 8
Color in Context 13
The (Dis)Loyal Opposition 13
The (Original) Tea Party 16
A Tea Partier by Any Other Name 23
The (Recent) History ofW hites' Racial
Attitudes 27
Color by Numbers 34
The Southern Strategy 43
The Roots of the Southern Strategy 48
The Southern Strategy Solidifies 52
The Death of the Southern Strategy 6o
The Othering ofBarack Obama 63
Wharis"Race"r 63
Tribes 69
A Long History, Not Over Yet 87
What is Racism~ 87
Redlining, and All That Follows 91
When Racism Becomes Treason 117
Conclusion 175
Acknowledgments 185
About the Author 187
Notes 189

Foreword
When I became Chairman of the Democratic National
Committee in 2005, we implemented a program that be~
came known as the so~State Strategy. The idea was co
build the party for the long-cerm by winning incremen~
tal elections through registering voters, and recruiting and
nurturing candidates at che state and local levels cowards
future bids for higher office-and to do it by including
states in which Republicans had long dominated. Our re~
search and my gut told me chat while Democrats weren't
losing on che issties, in order to expand the playing field
we had to do a better job of competing where it matters
most with voters-we had co win with our values. We had
to focus on values. Not all of my colleagues bought into
that vision, and there was certainly more chan one discus
sion about continuing along the path the party had walked
for so long, which was to stick co targeting states where the
voters were already friendly.
The so~State Strategy, however, paid off in what was
an historic mid-term election in 2006, with Democrats re
taking both the House of Representatives and the Senate,
and it was foundational in 2008, helping Barack Obama
compete in states long thought of as red states where we
shouldn't spend resources-like North Carolina, Nevada
and Virginia.
Cornell Belcher was a pollster for the DNC during
my tenure as Chairman. When we chink about political
II A SLACK MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE
polling, what often leaps ro mind is the science of predict·
ing election results based on feedback from registered vot·
ers, and likely voters, and those exiting the voting booth.
But the horse·race aspect of polling is really the least im
portant-and lease interesting-pare of what polls can cell
us. Polls show us what Americans think about a wide va·
riety of issues-what they're concerned about, what's most
important to them, how policy can be better shaped to im·
prove their lives and the lives of their families. But most
importantly, good polling helps us understand the prism
of values most Americans use to make sense of their world.
Polling is the useful tool of social science seeking to
bring about positive change in people's lives, and while
Cornell and I worked together at rhe DNC he conducted
some of the best polling I've ever seen-polling that em·
powered our understanding of America's changing demo·
graphics and the hope rhac rested within this change for
rhe future of not just the Democratic Party, but the pro·
gressive policies it embodies, and the positive changes that
can occur when such policies are put inco place, rooted in
the expressed values of the American people.
Let me be clear: we have at our fingertips a trove of em·
pirical data that proves progressive policies, such as increas·
ing taxes on the wealthiest among us, indeed lead to positive
outcomes. A quick look at rwo cases-the state of Kansas
and the state of California-provides a telling overview.
Kansas, functioning under the extremely conserva·
rive policies of Governor Sam Brownback, has become
an economic wasteland. Domestic spending was slashed
in that state and unfunded tax curs for the rich and for
Foreword
corporations were enacted. The result is that economic
growth was halted, job creation came to a standstill, and
the state is posting deficits that will likely reach over a bil,
lion dollars before all is said and done.
California, on the other hand, did the exact opposite.
Under Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, the wholly
Democratic majority in the legislature was able to reverse
the economic devastation that the previous Republican ad,
ministration had left behind. The new Democratic major,
icy moved forward with progressive policies based on our
progressive values, including a substantial tax increase for
the wealthy and increases in spending for education, infra,
structure and other domestic programs. In June of zor6,
California surpa~ed France to become the sixth largest
economy in the world.
You read chat right: California, one of our fifty states,
has become, by itself and under a progressive governor who
leads a progressive state legislarure, the sixth largest econ
omy in the world.
But, you might say, wait a minute: we have a Demo,
cratic president-why isn't the whole country doing as
well under his leadership as the state of California is doing
under a Democrat?
I propose chat a huge chunk of the problem, if not the
entirety of it, is due to obstructionist Republicans in Con,
gress who have spent the last eight years doing everything
in their power not to move the country forward but rather
to make sure chat President Obama was unable to move the
country forward. They were guided by their obsession to
make sure that the nation's first Black president must fail.