South Carolina Ruins Mediocre White Man's Presidential Ambitions: 2024 Edition
He lost to Marianne Williamson!?!? pic.twitter.com/6hZQwyABRl
— Trevor Has As Many Delegates As Dean Phillips (@ObamaClintonDem) February 4, 2024
God bless the Palmetto State.
Let me let you in on a little secret, Dean: Black voters like Joe Biden.
And why shouldn't they? Joe Biden has created remarkable opportunities for the Black community over the past three years. It all started with his historic partnership with Kamala Harris, who has been allowed to be one of the most visible and active vice presidents in our nation's history. It has continued with Biden recognizing the lack of qualified Black men and women in the judiciary branch and Biden not only appointed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court but as of late January had 47% of all his appointments to the federal judicial branch be women of color with another 20% being men of color. Then there's Biden's economic record with Black unemployment being at record-low levels, Black businesses growing at the fastest rate in 30 years, the investment of over $7 billion to HBCUs, and a focus on providing student loan debt relief to borrowers of color with the current relief having helped more than 3.7 million Americans forgive nearly $137 billion in student loan debt. Combined with appointing 6 high-ranking Black cabinet members, it is obvious that Joe Biden is working toward addressing historic inequality in the Black community through constant conversations with those who have been most directly impacted.
But more than his accomplishments, Joe Biden simply has an appeal that someone like Dean Phillips will never have. He is easy to talk to. He is genuine. He cares. His conversations aren't forced. When Joe Biden stops by Black-owned restaurants and businesses he does not come off as stuffy and awkward as Dean Phillips does. He relates to his audience. He attends service at the Black church when he's in town. His relationship with pillars of the Black community like James Clyburn goes back decades and is built upon trust and understanding rather than simple political transactions. Black voters know Joe and Joe knows them. His gratitude, first in 2020 and then again last night, is genuine. He does not take their vote for granted and they know this and appreciate this. It is why we are seeing Joe Biden maintain consistent support from Black voters despite what the media would have you believe.
It also cannot be overstated how meaningful it was for Black voters to have Joe Biden willingly play second fiddle to the nation's first Black President, Barack Obama. This meant a lot to them to have a veteran White politician not only serve willingly in the role but also to allow Obama to own the role and make it his own. Biden worked hand-in-hand with Obama on all the key issues, with his only ask being that he and Obama be the last ones in the room any time major decisions were made. Black voters saw this professional relationship but also saw the personal relationship between the two men as well. There was and continues to be, a strong bond of friendship between the two men and their families. Seeing that, and seeing how Joe Biden had an opportunity in 2020 to undo a lot of damage that Trump had intentionally done to Barack Obama's legacy, gave them the chance to show their appreciation to Joe by giving him his chance in the Oval Office after being Obama's righthand man for 8 years.
Like Bernie Sanders before him, Dean Phillips massively misjudged the base of the Democratic Party. That base is Black women followed by Black men. You cannot win a primary without them on your side. You certainly cannot win a general election without them either. That's why it has been mind-boggling that Phillips has insisted that he would do better than Biden in a head-to-head matchup against Donald Trump without the overwhelming support of Black voters. Phillips likes to point out outlier polls for his argument yet by losing by 94% in South Carolina he has proven that is not only unelectable but that he is even more unelectable than Marianne Williamson. Anyone with a relatively normal sense of self-worth would have called it quits after Saturday's shellacking. Dean Phillips' inflated ego simply won't let him go and thus his vanity campaign trudges on to Michigan on February 27th and Super Tuesday the week after that. In just one month, Joe Biden will have officially clinched the Democratic nomination and Dean Phillips will be a pariah in the halls of Congress finishing out his term as a lame-duck congressman.
It could have been different. Phillips could have continued to be a Minnesota congressman pulling in $174,000 a year. He would have been a backbencher, sure, but he would have a cushy job in a safe blue seat. But sadly the ego of mediocre White men occurs on both sides of the political spectrum. Just when we thought Ron DeSantis would have the most godawful campaign this election cycle, Dean Phillips entered the chat. His l's keep piling up, each one more embarrassing than the last. He isn't even on the ballot in Tuesday's Nevada primary because he knew he wouldn't be competitive there. He has already moved the goalposts twice and now believes that somehow Michigan will save his disastrous campaign. But it won't. Because Black voters in major cities like Detroit see through Dean. He'll lose Detriot in numbers that will rival his performance in South Carolina. Men like Dean Phillips never learn.
And they'll never be anywhere close to the Oval Office because of it.
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