In a strong appeal to black voters on Wednesday, President Barack Obama warned that if Donald Trump wins the election next week, the Republican presidential nominee would undo his administration's legacy.
"If we
let this thing slip and I've got a situation where my last two months
in office are preparing for a transition to Donald Trump, whose staff
people have said that their primary agenda is to have him in the first
couple of weeks sitting in the Oval Office and reverse every single
thing that we've done," Obama said during an interview on the "Tom
Joyner Morning Show," a syndicated radio program.
primary agenda is to have him in the first couple of weeks sitting in
the Oval Office and reverse every single thing that we've done," Obama
said during an interview on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show," a syndicated
radio program.
But there are signs that this year's
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton might suffer from lower turnout among
black voters, something that Obama addressed Wednesday.
The "African-American vote right now is not as solid as it needs to be," he said.
Early
voting numbers from key swing states and a state Clinton is hoping to
flip to the blue column show that African Americans have not been voting
early in the same numbers as they have in past elections. In North
Carolina, blacks account for 23% of the early voting electorate,
compared to 28% at this point in 2012. In Georgia, blacks so far make up
31% of the early voting population compared to 36% at this time in
2012. In Florida, blacks accounted for 15% of the early vote at this
stage in 2008 -- the most recent year for which statistics were
available -- compared to 12% this year.
"And
I know that there are a lot of people in barbershops and beauty salons,
you know, in the neighborhoods who are saying to themselves, 'We love
Barack, we love -- we especially love Michelle, and so, you know, it was
exciting and now we're not as excited as much.' You know what? I need
everybody to understand that everything we've done is dependent on me
being able to pass the baton to somebody who believes in the same things
I believe in," Obama said.
The
pitch was similar to remarks Obama made in September at the
Congressional Black Caucus dinner, when he said that he would consider a
Trump victory to be "an insult to my legacy."
In
an attempt to drive home the point that the black community could be
particularly affected by a Clinton loss, the President said Wednesday
the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, support for historically black
colleges and universities, civil rights, voting right and even the first
lady's garden would be at risk under a Trump presidency.
He
said progress made on criminal justice reform could also be stalled,
citing the case of the Central Park Five, a group of black and Hispanic
youths whose wrongful conviction in a 1989 New York rape was later
overturned.
"Donald Trump is
somebody who after the Central Park case was recognized as having
convicted young African American men who were innocent today still
insists that they should be in jail and what - this is the guy who's
gonna suddenly help to make sure that folks have fair treatment in the
criminal justice system?"