Just weeks after the headline grabbing events in Ferguson, Missouri, the Democrats apparently have a new strategy for spiking turnout this November -- tell black voters that the racists are coming, the racists are coming!
Since Obama's numbers are in the toilet -- he's a drag in every tight Senate race -- Democrats have scrambled to find some edge in the upcoming mid-terms. And the use of force in Ferguson is just what they've been looking for:
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA): “We must continue to engage in peaceful, non-violent action, but also we must participate in the political process. They must register, and they must vote.”
Congressman Lewis, who personally and physically sacrificed during the civil rights protests in the 1960s, is echoing what everyone from Al Sharpton to Attorney General Eric Holder believes: that African-Americans in America still live in an evil, racist country, so go out to punish your enemies at the polls.
Recall that record numbers of black voters turned out for Obama in 2008 and 2012. Presumably they did so not just because he was black but because they thought their lives would get better … better jobs… schools … a chance at a better life.
But by all relevant indicators, the lives of most black Americans haven't improved much since the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009.
Black unemployment is about double that of whites; cheap illegal labor has hurt job prospects and wages. Even race relations are worse after five years of President Obama.
But rather than change policy course to turn things around and actually improve people's lives, the Democrats go back to the politics of division: if you don't go to the polls to vote Democrat in November, your son could very well be the next Michael Brown or Trayvon Martin. How cynical, counterproductive -- and how revealing.
Remember Obama's theme of "Yes, We Can"? To many it sounded optimistic and upbeat. But now his "Hope" has turned into "Nope." Nope, we can't make it -- because of racism, the Tea Party and/or the police.
Democrats may spike turnout with this rank, race-baiting strategy, but this won't create a single job in the inner city, or keep a single African-American male out of prison. But if Obama can save a Senate seat or two in the process, then that's all that matters, right?
And that's the memo.