African Americans Crucial to Dem Victory

Carol Moseley Braun's candidacy for President of the United States is now history. Ambassador Braun, the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, used her time on the campaign trail to champion issues such as pay equity, single-payer health care and economic development. Although her voice and beautiful smile will be missed, African American voters still have a lot of quality candidates to choose from in the coming primary season. With Carol on the sidelines and many of the white Democrats competing for support, civil rights activist Al Sharpton must begin to refocus his energies on winning over undecided African American voters.

There is no question that the Democratic Party cannot win without the support of African American voters in 2004, and African Americans cannot affect the issues most important to them if they do not participate in changing the direction in which this nation is headed. African Americans are the most loyal block of voters the Democratic Party has, supporting it in numbers that far exceed their percentage of the U.S. electorate.

Just look at the numbers. In 1996, Bill Clinton trailed Bob Dole among whites 46 to 43 percent, but got 84 percent of the African American vote and won the election handily. In 2000, Al Gore won an historic 90 percent of the African American vote, which was critical to his success in the popular vote. Given the increased polarization of the electorate and the disappearing "swing voter" in 2004, African American voters are more important than ever.

African American voters have especially forceful reasons to turn out to vote against George W. Bush in 2004. Chief among these is the high unemployment numbers the African American community has faced over the past three years. Corporate earnings may be back up, but the unemployment rate for African Americans rose to over 11 percent this fall. African Americans have been particularly affected by job losses in the manufacturing sector, meaning that they will face an even tougher struggle finding new jobs. By reconnecting with its core economic values, the Democratic Party can speak credibly to the failed economic policies of this president.

African Americans are acutely aware of the conservative part of Bush's agenda, but are left to wonder where the compassionate part went. Like the banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished" several months ago, the Bush White House is good at crafting images, but not so good at providing the substance behind them. The tax cuts -- Bush's sole economic policy -- have certainly not helped African Americans. During the last round of tax cuts, half of all American families received less than $100 in the mail, a disproportionate number of them African American. Those Americans in the top 1 percent of households received more benefits than the bottom 84 percent combined.

Bush's rhetoric of optimism in the American economy has not reduced the record deficits he has caused, and even if GDP growth continues, Bush has still saddled future generations with massive debt. African Americans already face a tough time getting financing to purchase homes, and more deficit spending inevitably means higher interest rates, hurting African American families even more.

The Democrats running for president are all proposing ways to establish tax fairness and restore fiscal sanity by at least repealing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. In an era in which all segments of American society should unite behind common causes, many American corporations have betrayed the nation, through fraud, deceit and greed. To many Americans, especially working Americans, Bush himself is symbolic of the corporate greed and cronyism that has undermined trust in the fairness of America. African Americans, acutely aware of the inequalities in the U.S. economy, must help change the direction in which this country is headed.