Barack Obama, the first African-American U.S. president, told a sold-out Friday afternoon crowd at Robin Hood Dell East that the Nov. 6 midterm elections are more important than the ones that produced his historic presidency.
“Vote,” Obama began. “I really shouldn’t have to deliver the message. I would have thought by now you guys would have figured it out that it’s important to vote. But some people may not have heard the news yet, so I’m here to deliver it.”
“This November’s election is more important than any I can remember in my lifetime,” Obama said. “Politicians say that all the time. I said that when I was running and I was on the ballot because it was the most important to me,” he said to uproarious laughter. “But this time it really is. This time the stakes are really high. The consequences of any of us sitting on the sidelines are far more dangerous.”
Obama was in town to support the candidacies of Democratic incumbent Gov. Tom Wolf and Senator Bob Casey. Wolf is being challenged by Republican Scott Wagner; Casey by U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta. A recent NBC News poll showed that both candidates hold commanding leads against their opposition.
However, Obama warned the fawning audience not to pay attention to polls and to focus on getting the vote out in the weeks before the election. He spoke directly to groups — young people, minorities — who tend to be apathetic during midterms elections.
“Because it is a non-presidential election, there is a tendency for young people, for African-American and Latino folks, for casual voters to sit out and say, ‘I’m going to wait until the presidential election,’” he said. “This one is actually more important.”
White turnout has long eclipsed minority turnout in elections. However, the gap narrowed in 2008 and 2012 due, according to many, to the energy generated by Obama’s candidacy.
However, African Americans stayed away from the polls in droves in 2016, according to U.S. Census voting registration data drawn from the 2016 election. This was especially true in cities like Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Detroit — cities with significant African-American populations in swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Both Wolf and Casey spoke before Obama. Each said that many of the victories that were won during Obama’s two terms — healthcare, gay rights among others — have been and will continue to be under attack if Democrats don’t participate in the midterms.
“We are the last thing standing — the final buffer between Republicans rolling back rights that were won during the Obama administration,” Wolf said. “Nothing less than our democracy is at stake. We must make sure that we are at the polls on Nov. 6. Can you do that?”
In the Nov. 6 elections, Democrats are trying to oust Republicans in four U.S. House districts and more than a dozen state legislative seats in the Philadelphia area alone. Obama twice carried Pennsylvania in his presidential races, and Democrats hope the state can help them retake control of Congress from the GOP.
The 44th president is widely viewed as the Democrats’ most powerful weapon on the campaign trail, and when he appears on the stump the atmosphere usually becomes part political rally, part concert.
“Vote,” Obama began. “I really shouldn’t have to deliver the message. I would have thought by now you guys would have figured it out that it’s important to vote. But some people may not have heard the news yet, so I’m here to deliver it.”
“This November’s election is more important than any I can remember in my lifetime,” Obama said. “Politicians say that all the time. I said that when I was running and I was on the ballot because it was the most important to me,” he said to uproarious laughter. “But this time it really is. This time the stakes are really high. The consequences of any of us sitting on the sidelines are far more dangerous.”
Obama was in town to support the candidacies of Democratic incumbent Gov. Tom Wolf and Senator Bob Casey. Wolf is being challenged by Republican Scott Wagner; Casey by U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta. A recent NBC News poll showed that both candidates hold commanding leads against their opposition.
However, Obama warned the fawning audience not to pay attention to polls and to focus on getting the vote out in the weeks before the election. He spoke directly to groups — young people, minorities — who tend to be apathetic during midterms elections.
“Because it is a non-presidential election, there is a tendency for young people, for African-American and Latino folks, for casual voters to sit out and say, ‘I’m going to wait until the presidential election,’” he said. “This one is actually more important.”
White turnout has long eclipsed minority turnout in elections. However, the gap narrowed in 2008 and 2012 due, according to many, to the energy generated by Obama’s candidacy.
However, African Americans stayed away from the polls in droves in 2016, according to U.S. Census voting registration data drawn from the 2016 election. This was especially true in cities like Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Detroit — cities with significant African-American populations in swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Both Wolf and Casey spoke before Obama. Each said that many of the victories that were won during Obama’s two terms — healthcare, gay rights among others — have been and will continue to be under attack if Democrats don’t participate in the midterms.
“We are the last thing standing — the final buffer between Republicans rolling back rights that were won during the Obama administration,” Wolf said. “Nothing less than our democracy is at stake. We must make sure that we are at the polls on Nov. 6. Can you do that?”
In the Nov. 6 elections, Democrats are trying to oust Republicans in four U.S. House districts and more than a dozen state legislative seats in the Philadelphia area alone. Obama twice carried Pennsylvania in his presidential races, and Democrats hope the state can help them retake control of Congress from the GOP.
The 44th president is widely viewed as the Democrats’ most powerful weapon on the campaign trail, and when he appears on the stump the atmosphere usually becomes part political rally, part concert.
Friday was no different.
Before he took the stage, as is typical for any performer at the venue, the music — from Motown to hip-hop to the mellow sounds of Bill Withers — filled the air. Meanwhile, lines, snaking from the entrance to 33rd Street, flickered with electricity in anticipation of getting inside the gates.
Obama peppered his 20-plus minute speech with moments in history — slavery, the Great Depression, World Wars and women gaining the right to vote — that the nation has rebounded from.
He said that the presidency of Donald Trump will be no different.
“We have been through worse than this,” Obama said. “And we will get through this. But it all starts with you, Pennsylvania, voting.”
jmitchell@phillytrib.com (215) 893-5732
https://www.phillytrib.com/news/obama-it-all-starts-with-you-pennsylvania-voting/article_d5aeb4ca-91c0-56ec-bbb6-ec42808017a4.html
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