Obama: Men Must Check Sexist Biases, Elect Clinton

This was Broward county today: enthusiam for Clinton among African-Americans, but the turnout of black voters is down.

The president put the current situation bluntly.

“It’s over now as far as the African-American community is concerned”, she said. We especially love Michelle. It wasn’t that long ago that a man named Henry Frye in Greensboro, the first African-American Chief Justice of North Carolina’s Supreme Court was denied the right to register to vote, because he had failed a literacy test after he had graduated from college.

His likeness graces every wall: there’s an Obama calendar, an Obama picture, a sketch of Obama with Martin Luther King Jr., and, peering out from behind the coffee-maker, an image of Obama in sunglasses. “No sensible observer believes that Hillary Clinton can equal that so some decline in African-American turnout is just about inevitable”.

“I think it’s reasonable to expect that African-American turnout will be down, [and] Latino turnout will be up”, he said.

That appears to be exactly what’s happening in advance polls.

Obama told Joyner that kind of reasoning shouldn’t deter black voters, warning that a victory by Trump could lead to his administration’s accomplishments being overturned.

“Yes, I am black”, the woman says, “but I am not voting Democrat”.

Obama was in Chapel Hill Wednesday, the same day Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and daughter-in-law Lara campaigned in the state that is a must-win for the Republican.

Obama spent Wednesday night in Miami.

Latoya Hunter saw it coming. On Thursday morning, Real Clear Politics showed Trump up by 2 percent in North Carolina, according to a collection of several polls, while FiveThirtyEight gave Trump a 51 percent chance of winning the state, based on poll numbers.

Obama said that voters should “stand up and reject cynicism” and “choose hope”.

But how much black turnout does Clinton need on Election Day?

“Imagine it is January 20, 2017 and imagine that it is Donald Trump standing in front of the Capitol”, she told a 15,000-strong crowd in Tempe, Arizona, triggering a chorus of boos for her Republican opponent.

Her lawyers combed through the server and provided the state department with 30,000 work-related emails, but her campaign deleted another 33,000 messages, saying they were personal in nature. “Overall vote is up”, Mr. Obama said.

Others are perfectly serious about it. And elections are decided by the people who show up and vote, not by sheer demographics.

This week, US Secretary of State John Kerry admitted the campaign has been “downright embarrassing” as he deals with America’s friends and foes overseas, and the latter are in full voice.

“Black turnout rose enormously in the two elections where Barack Obama was on the ballot”.

Clinton’s campaign has ramped up efforts to draw black voters to the polls in the closing weeks of the campaign.

“If the Clinton campaign is waiting till Tuesday, November 8th, to get out the black vote, they have some heavy lifting to do”, said University of Florida political scientist Daniel Smith who tracks early voting as Election Smith.

At the restaurant counter, Franklin reflects on everyone he’s talked to this election.

“All of my friends are supporting Hillary, ” he says. No actual votes are swapped, just promises by both parties that they will vote as the other wants.