Speaking at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation gala this Saturday night, President Barack Obama called on the black community to support Hillary Clinton and to keep Donald Trump away from the White House.
“We have achieved historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the African-American community. I will consider it a personal insult and an insult to my legacy if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election,” he said. “You want to give me a good send-off? Go vote.”
The 2012 election marked a record turnout for black voters, with 93 percent backing Obama over his then-opponent Mitt Romney.
According to a recent Washington Post report, Clinton enjoys a nearly 80 percent lead over Trump when it comes to black voters.
“If you care about our legacy, realize everything we stand for is at stake. All the progress we’ve made is at stake in this election,” Obama said.
“My name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot. Justice is on the ballot,” Obama continued.
“Good schools are on the ballot. Ending mass incarceration, that’s on the ballot right now,” he added. “And there is one candidate who will advance those things, and there is another candidate whose defining principle, the central theme of his candidacy, is opposition to all that we’ve done. There’s no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter; it all matters.”
Clinton spoke at the gala as well, promising to carry on Obama’s legacy while warning against a Trump presidency.
“We need ideas, not insults; real plans to help struggling Americans in communities that have been left out and left behind, not prejudice and paranoia,” Clinton said. “We can’t let Barack Obama’s legacy fall into the hands of someone who doesn’t understand that, whose dangerous and divisive vision for our country will drag us backwards.”
Watch:
At CBC gala, President Obama delivers an impassioned call to back Clinton https://t.co/w1V5NM346t https://t.co/zVZvo4o0mb
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 18, 2016
Follow @deadstatetweets [The Hill]
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