Black voters stayed home for Georgia runoff

The day when black folks realize their full power will truly be amazing.

Nearly one month after black voters went to the polls in overwhelming numbers to send Sen. Barack Obama to the White House, they had a chance in Georgia to also flip a seat in the U.S. Senate from Republican to Democrat, if only they showed up to vote.

They didn't.

Runoffs are notorious for having low turnout, and the race between incumbent Rep. Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin certainly fit the bill.

After keeping Chambliss below the 50 percent threshold, Martin was blown away yesterday, 57 percent to 43 percent.

The decision kept Democrats from being one vote away from a supermajority in the U.S. Senate, which would have made it easy to block Republicans from filibustering any legislation backed by Obama.

Now there is no guarantee that had African Americans returned in full force yesterday as they did on Nov. 4 that Martin would have won, but he lost by 315,000 votes, and a heavy Democratic turnout overall, and especially among African Americans, could have done the trick.

I will always maintain that black voters don't know their full strength because they have never used it. We saw it in North Carolina and Indiana and other states on Nov. 4 when Obama won. Now we just have to learn to take that same energy and passion and put it behind other candidates who share our views.

Comments

[touch]

Satisfied with less than.. while they were gloating over the Obama win.. they did not follow through.. nor did they understand if they want his agenda to move ahead, they would have understood ... it did not stop with getting him elected, it goes forth, to give him the best congressional support structure possible..

but none in the media came and spoke of this point, fact or premise.. of process.

we get appeased too quickly, and take our eye off the details of the matter, and in doing so, we do more damage than good. and this denotation of fact about the lack of voter turn out, shows the shallowness of thinking that people do. Obama should not have had to come out and campaign for the Democratic person.. the people should have thought deeper and carried the momentum forth.. but they did not .. and as a result.. they sit on their ass, and let a landslide happen... and all that does is charge up a base of opposition that is left to Obama to have to deal with, when his supporters could have showed their efforts of support had depth and outreach.. to carry forth.. and they 'FAILED".. they failed Obama.. and they failed themselves.. this is the same mindset that caused us to loose the momentum of the 60's and by the 80's we'd faded into obscurity and consumed by drugs.. and for a generation.. which is 25 years.. we were stumbling in the dark.. with clothes too big, drugs ravaged communities and that generation produced a new crop of pajama wearing, people who are walking around looking like rag dolls in over sized clothes with big log plaster all over themselves, with more tattoos, than a leopard has spots.. and all that does is get people "rejected from a distance"... and the result is community erosion. people turning and going the other direction when they see the youth coming, and the youth thinking slang is the only thing they need to speak.. and trying to embellish some image of cool, that makes them more foolish in self denial.. before they even meet the door of opportunity. We got young people now.. everyone trying to look like a rapper or a sports player.. and it's just another form of segregation.. and they never see the realism of it.. and foolishly choose it.. and then wonder why opportunity is shut down..

We have segments where people still speak, as if it's 1940's and education was unequal.. and the trying to grab the kill each other drug money, and look like the flashiest buffoon.. they, ignore school.. and as a result another generation falls further behind.. and the sad part is .. parents go out and buy this crap for their kids.. unaware they support the process of self denial by image and self presentations.. then they want to know .. why their little johnny has a rap sheet.. longer than he is tall.

You did not see one person, on the stage when the Georgia candidate won, wearing baggy clothes, and talking slang, and looking like a hip hop deluded person. they don't fall for the type casting, which is a identity method for denial.. and here it is 25 years later, and we can't let go of a fad..
Rappers have the ears of the youth, and all they can talk about is the same stuff 2live crew.. stated 20 years ago.. after 2live crew blasted it open and took it to an extreme.. why is it still repeated in fragments with lips flapping 100mph, and all the rappers are saying the same thing.. sounding like a broken drum track.. with a marching band cadence.. and you wonder why the kids can't think.. they have been groomed to the drone cadence that recycles itself every 4 beats.. they are caught in a loop.. and can't figure it out..

People evidentially did not listen to Obama.. they were too busy gloating about him being black, they forgot that he need their CONTINUED HELP... goodness.. what the hell is wrong with us..??

[will]

Obama sent his entire ground team down there to get out the vote and Democratic congressionals sent millions to help elect Martin. People ask why he didn't go down to speak on Martin's behalf if Georgia was so important. His team was polling down there and knew exactly which direction the run-off was headed. If he had made an appearance and Martin had lost while Palin campaigned for Chambliss it would have been a symbolic portend for 2010 races and he can ill afford to be aligned with defeat so early after his own election.

[on the Real]

I agree patcially with you Will. I live in Georgia and I voted for Martin. Martin had a lot of help but he did not come off as a strong candidate. He mainly campaigned in Atlanta. Georgia is made up of a lot of rural towns with a few major cities. Martin's message was not as strong of a message as Obama's.

[on the Real]

Touch,

Obama did not win Georga. It is a redneck deep southern state.

[iawill]

The saying goes something like "if you keep doing things the same way, how can you expect different results?" We saw the results of change when more Blacks, young adults, etc. registered and caste their vote on November 4th resulting in the election of an African-American for President and the change in the color guard of some former red states (VA, NC, FL) turning blue.

Much of Obama's success - especially in states like VA was attributed to the fact that he (as well as other Democratic candidates) campaigned heavily in rural parts of the state. If Martin was relying solely on the larger cities to carry him, then he did not follow Obama's guidelines - a change in action brings a change in results.

As for our folks staying home instead of going to the polls once again no matter how tired they may have been -- they need not complain about things being the same.

[touch]

on the Real... it does not matter that he did not win Georgia.. the message a vote carries, has more weight in more ways than the win.. it could have sent the vote to the Republican winner, that he will not push a roll over agenda, and people sit home an accept it.. all the people of Georgia did was give him the delusion and illusion and maybe the reality, that he can push his agenda, and the population will sit their with their lips zipped.. and their ass spreading.. with a do nothing grip grumbling in the back ground.

apathy... !!!!!!!!!!!!

Apathy (also called impassivity or perfunctoriness) is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest or concern to emotional, social, or physical life. They may also exhibit an insensibility or sluggishness.

MLK Stood up in Georgia when the odds were much different and brutality followed the stand of action... these lazy ass people who did not get out to vote.. did not even have to worry about facing reprisals of brutality.. they just sit on their ass because of "Apathy" !!!

[BYoung]

I was there. I voted early because I was on my way to Kuwait and knew the importance of a Jim Miller victory, unfortunately others got lazy, complacent or just didn't care. I will never give up hope on the black vote but sometimes I become so frustrated at our some of our people and their lack of initiative and appreciation of past history.

[will]

BYoung you are in the military and you know the importance of Obama's filibuster-proof Congress? Wow, you must be a young one, lets talk about what you don't know. Our pay raise for '09 is already signed but I guess you will understand how Democrats support their military when Obama signs your $5 pay raise in '10. Then again, you will no doubt accept whatever "reason" he gives and never ask yourself why the criminal organization known as Plan Parenthood's annual $300 mil dollar funding from the government goes up. Better yet, educate yourself on how Clinton cut the military in half when he was in office.

[BYoung]

Will,

We all know what happens when you assume..no need for me to repeat it. Firstly, I'm not in the military! I am software engineer contracting overseas. Secondly, I am 38, so I have some years on me, Thirdly before you assume again, I have served; in Gulf War I, in a combat engineer battalion, 1ID 1Eng Bn; so in other words I've done my time. Lastly, when does any of that matter or required for that matter for me to form or have an opinion on the state of MY state and MY people? Age doesn't not make you wise.

I was there during the Clinton years! I experienced the cuts in the military...but yet was our people on a whole more prosperious? Your opinion seems to be rooted in selfishness. Your philosphy on this matter is republican. I'm concerned not just about myself and my family, but yet all americans maybe you are not.

You are in the military because it is what you chose. Maybe it was a sense of service to your country, maybe it was because you were tired of school or felt school wasn't your strong suite. Maybe you chose the military because you didn't know what else to do but didn't want to do nothing. Whatever the case maybe you're there now. Are you happy that your fellow soldier has to leave his family holiday after holiday for 2 and 3 deployments for a war that had nothing to do with 9/11? Are you satified with the benefits that your fellow soldiers are now receiving once they've come home? Are you truly satified with the pay raise that your commander-in-chief has given you. The only way you make money is to deploy other wise your salary is dispicable under Bush! 8 years and now look at our military, look at our economy, look at our stature in the world eyes under a Bush presidency. Is that your ideal of America?

Now you assume, as you so eloquently put it; that President-Elect Obama will only provide a $5 pay raise. Hhmm....I've guess you've got facts to back up those statements, right? And your notion about planned parenthood? Give me a break...what is your solution. What are you trying to say because I don't want to ASSUME. I think you better educate yourself before you step to me with assumptions and generalizations.

[Ethel]

Well, we still don't have the 60 votes that we need in the Senate. Given that fact, its going to be very important that the people of Georgia begin working on him now, so that when the time comes, he can join in a bipartisan effort to get this country back on track and support at least some of Obama's initiatives. No matter how you cut it, the people of Georgia are on the line. They lay back and get lazy, the change we get may be minimal.

[will]

Am I truly satisfied with the Bush pay raise, do you even know what he gave us? I would have to answer 100%. Higher than any we ever saw under Clinton. Prosperous? Are you kidding me? 9/11 was a direct result of Clinton's foreign policy imcompetence and negligence. The first world trade center bombing, the embassy bombing in Africa, The USS Cole, etc, etc. All were terrorist attacks on American's with Al Queda dutifully taking notes while Clinton chased Lewinsky around the oval office. Or how bout Black Hawk down and the Rwandan genocide that he looked the other way for? As a former vet do you really support cutting funding for missile defense systems in a nuclear age when everyone is clamoring to become a nuclear power. When the '10 pay raise gets signed we'll come back and have this chat and I will bet you it will be substantially lower.