In an interview on Steve Harvey’s morning radio show today, the first African-American president of the United States attempted to answer that question by reminding black voters of just what is potentially at stake in this election.
“My legacy’s on the ballot,” Obama said on Wednesday. “You know, all the work we’ve done over the last eight years is on the ballot.”
Directing his message to black voters, Obama said, “I don’t want anybody to stay home thinking this is any less important than 2008 or 2012.”
“So the notion somehow that, ‘Well, you know, I’m not as inspired because Barack and Michelle, they’re not on the ballot this time and, you know, maybe we kinda take it easy’ — my legacy’s on the ballot,” he repeated.
Claiming that the Trump campaign has publicly stated that one of the GOP candidate’s goals is to “eliminate the Obama presidency,” he argued, “The stakes could not be higher” in November.
“If you vote for a third-party candidate who’s got no chance to win, that’s a vote for Trump,” he added.
History, Obama said, can go forward, backward or even sideways, depending on how active and involved citizens are.
“If we don’t vote, we can go backwards,” he warned.
“There have been times in our history where right after the Civil War everybody was feeling good about the course we were on,” Obama continued. “And then suddenly next thing you knew Jim Crow was in place and the few African-Americans who had been elected suddenly they were purged and suddenly people couldn’t vote again.”
He left one final reminder: “If you do not vote, you are voting for Donald Trump.”
http://www.salon.com/2016/09/28/pres...n-to-jim-crow/
