Comment on Obama’s Advice to Black Men Ignores a Deeper Problem for Democrats

In Arizona, older people recently received a mailer declaring Medicare had been cancelled. It had a big red stamp that proclaimed, “Medicare Cancellation Notice.” Also emblazoned on its front was this: “Warning: Rates are going up & plans are being cancelled. Details enclosed.” Its return address was the “Department of Medicare Cancellation, Kamala Harris Administration.” That return address should have been a tip-off that this was not an official notification—along with a scrawled add-on in cursive: “I hope you can afford to lose your insurance!

California’s statewide rent control law, the Costa-Hawkins Act, has been contentious since it was signed into law in 1995. California politicians saw Costa-Hawkins, which made it illegal for localities to impose rent control on homes, condominiums, and new apartment housing, as a way to appease the interests of landlords. Nearly 30 years later, Costa-Hawkins increasingly limits disabled and aging people’s ability to get accessible, affordable housing—practically impossible on a fixed income.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Donald Trump deliberately withheld disaster aid to states he deemed politically hostile to him as president and will do so again unimpeded if he returns to the White House, several former Trump administration officials have warned. As Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton ravaged the southeastern US over the past two weeks, Trump has sought to pin blame upon Joe Biden’s administration for a ponderous response to the disasters, even suggesting that this was deliberate, due to the number of Republican voters affected by the storms. But former Trump administration officials have said the former president, when in office, initially refused to release federal disaster aid for wildfires in California in 2018, withheld wildfire assistance for Washington state in 2020, and severely restricted emergency relief to Puerto Rico in the wake of the devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017 because he felt these places were not sufficiently supportive of him. “Trump absolutely didn’t want to give aid to California or Puerto Rico purely for partisan politics—because they didn’t vote for him.” The revelations, first reported upon by E&E News, have raised major doubts over what Trump’s response to disasters would be should he win next month’s presidential election.

With less than a month to go until Election Day, Democrats are scrambling to persuade Black men to cast their ballots for Kamala Harris amid polls showing Donald Trump gaining momentum among Black voters. This week alone, the vice president’s campaign introduced the “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men,” a set of policy proposals that marked the Harris campaign’s most overt attempt at appealing to Black men yet. So it landed as somewhat of a surprise, or at least a risk, that Barack Obama, ahead of his first campaign appearance for Harris last week, chose to blame sexist attitudes among Black men for any reluctance they may have in backing Harris.

Jimmy Carter turned 100 on October 1, making him the oldest former president. According to his family, Carter, also a former Georgia governor who has been in hospice care since February 2023, wanted to live long enough to cast his ballot for Kamala Harris. He passed that milestone on Tuesday, as early voting commenced in Georgia. But with three weeks to go before Election Day, this raises a question?

Funny how the first releases that need revising are always there to politically boost Democrats.