Maybe it is time to revamp your campaign, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. I am guessing you have the “A Team” of consultants. OK. What have they done for you lately?
Is it possible that one of your consultants participated, aided, or abetted the campaign of the Arizona congressman who referred to Black Americans as “colored people”? (His words were unanimously stricken from the congressional record).
Not trying to make mountains out of mole hills, but in close presidential elections it is often the little things – the perception of being out of touch – that can cause your defeat.
For example, the Florida Board of Education is doing the GOP a disservice by “inferring” that slavery had some redeeming aspects for the enslaved. Clearly the educators have not been very well educated.
Binge watching “Roots,” the TV mini-series of the 1970s, should be of help to them. Slaves learning from slavery? Remember how Kunta Kinte “learned” his name Toby? I guess you can say “learning” was “painful.”
For presidential candidates, here is a layup answer: “Slavery was bad with no redeeming aspects for Black people.” Period.
If you just say that, when asked, the ball will go through the basketball hoop. You will score points. But if you defend the Florida Board of Education’s comments you lose – air ball. Let us remember the classic “screw-up.”
The Republicans could be having another “There were good people on both sides” moment. Former President Donald Trump made this statement. He believed that white nationalists were part of the “good people” who held a march on the University of Virginia campus back in 2017. That was a costly error.
In 2020 it helped to assure that the Black population was coming out to vote in droves, voting absentee en masse and dropping ballots in mailboxes everywhere in order to defeat Trump.
In fact, if Trump got the white nationalist question right and had gone to two of the following three funerals (George Floyd, Sen. John McCain and/or Rep. John Lewis), he would not be running for president today as he would be finishing his second term.
Even Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville eventually got this question on white nationalists correct and no Black person would brag about his expertise on race relations.
DeSantis must not listen to his so-called “wise” consultants. Since 1988, these “political wizards,” via their failed strategies, have cost candidates the popular vote in every presidential election except in 2004.
Democrats, I would argue, have won the popular vote by using the same basketball play every single time. Like in basketball, they release a “sucker man” to hide on the opposite end of the court. Once the Republicans take a shot and miss, Democrats only have to rebound the ball and throw it down court to the sucker man waiting patiently, all alone, near their basket for an uncontested layup.
The Republicans always seem surprised and vow not to let it happen again. But they let it happen again every four years as though they have memory issues.
Well, the Democrats did a practice run last week on the slavery question mentioned earlier (about it having redeeming aspects for slaves). You know, just to see if it will work again. And, you guessed it, the GOP did not know how to handle it, yet again. With Black people the DeSantis team fumbled the ball. Can they recover their own fumble? Only time will tell.
The Black vote is a continual problem for the GOP. They do not get it and are too arrogant to believe they need help getting it. Being stubborn is not equivalent to being smart.
According to the Roper for Public Opinion Research group the Democrats have not won the white vote in presidential elections in decades, since the mid-20th century. For the most part the white vote has not been the GOP’s problem. But they have failed miserably with the Black community.
The GOP did gain some momentum in getting the minority vote during the 1990s. But Republicans won elections then that they cannot win today because of their lack of empathy toward Black people.
Back in the day, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, Michigan, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Ohio all had Republican governors. Even deep blue California had a Republican governor in the 1990s. Today, with the exception of Ohio, they all elected Democrat governors.
This is not hard folks. But first you have to face reality.
For the Republican presidential nominee to get between 10% to 15% of the Black vote he/she would wake up in the White House. The record shows that Democrats cannot win the presidency without notching nearly 90% of the Black vote.
Even in races for governor, Republicans only need about 20% to 25% of the Black vote to win. Just ask governors Tim Ridge of Pennsylvania, Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, John Engler of Michigan, Pete Wilson of California, George Voinovich of Ohio, and George E. Pataki of New York.
My fellow Republicans, these are low bars. Winning more of the Black vote is very doable, but not if you refer to them in 1950 terms (as “colored people”), embrace white nationalism, or fail to totally understand that there was nothing good about slavery for Black people. This is not hard stuff, nor is it too much to ask.
So far you’ve been insensitive. Let us remember that Black folks have “feelings” too. And slavery is not one of those nerves you want to touch.
Gary Franks served three terms as U.S. representative for Connecticut’s 5th District. He was the first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years and New England’s first Black member of the House. Host: podcast “We Speak Frankly.” Author: “With God, For God, and For Country.” @GaryFranks/Tribune News Service