Political Impact of the BLM Movement

[Masterpiece]
Let’s discuss the pure political impact of the Black Lives Matter movement. Let’s leave the discussion as to whether they are justified or unjustified in their cause and in their method of protesting for other threads.

It is clear that the Obama Administration, through its black leadership (Obama, Lynch, Johnson) is legitimizing and promoting the BLM movement. They have hosted BLM leadership in the Oval Office, they immediately came out and encouraged the continuation of BLM protests right after the Dallas shooting, and they are directing media attention towards the cause. We also know that in today’s hyper-polarized world, most are either for BLM or for the police – not both. The strategy that Hillary is forced to take due to a large black voter block in the Democratic Party, is to straddle the fence between both BLM and the police. This is a disastrous position for her, and I believe why she is losing so much ground so rapidly in the polls.

After observing 7+ years of this Administration, they would not be taking any of these actions without making the political calculation that it helps Democrats. Or would they? Is this issue so near and dear to Obama’s heart, and his idolization of the protest movements from 50-60 years ago, that he is willing to pursue it despite the political cost? Quizás, but this would be in stark contrast to most of his other actions, which are highly politically motivated. The political calculation may be that getting blacks active in BLM and inciting racial division has the effect of turning out blacks to the polls in November. However, Obama wants to be remembered as a great man and his legacy is paramount. I think he dreams of becoming a civil rights leader after his time in office. He loves to make speeches in his righteously indignant inner city voice. He wants to return to his roots of community organizing and helping the black community, and he owes a debt of gratitude to the black voters that elected him with virtually unanimous, monolithic support. Helping the BLM movement advances those career desires.

The overwhelming majority of non-black voters observe the tone and manner of BLM protests as being extremely distasteful. They also believe that the movement is founded on a false premise. Most people appreciate the police and respect them for professionally performing a very difficult job. They see black crime rates as a justifiable reason for the police to focus on heavily black population areas. The BLM activists’ blame is misplaced, and the BLM movement’s tactics are turning people off. Most voters are scared by the lawless scenes that they see at BLM protests, blocking traffic, climbing on cars, throwing rocks, etc. When you see polls like the Monmouth poll yesterday or the Quinnipiac polls today showing Trump leading in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Iowa, you have to ask whether the BLM activity last week is going to spark a white backlash against Democrats who embrace the BLM movement. Most swing states are heavily white in their demographics.

The BLM ugliness has created a massive opening for Trump. Trump has now tacked to positioning himself as the “law and order candidate” – targeting “security moms”, formerly known as soccer moms. Given Trump’s deficit with women, this is a strategic move. Is Obama handing Trump the election by supporting BLM?

 

[Premium Post]
Hillary or the DNC did not want to touch the BLM Movement leading up to the last few months. She had the incredibly awkward meeting with them several months ago that looked forced, and then you had the BLM protesters attacking poor Bernie about a year ago... It was only until Obama legitimized them very recently -- mentioning them by name, inviting them to the Oval Office, etc -- when Hillary's campaign was forced to quasi-support them. I think if left to her own devices, she wouldn't touch the BLM movement with a 10-foot pole -- they are just too volatile and toxic in too many independent voters' minds. The rock throwing, the climbing on cars, the throwing fireworks at the police, and the black supremacy and anti-police chants are bad, bad images to juxtapose alongside a candidate for President.

And of course we have learned how just how intimately involved Obama and Hillary's teams are in coordinating media coverage and managing their narratives/talking points with tv and social media outlets. There is no doubt that the directive was given from on high (White House) for ABC/CNN/NBC/MSNBC/CBS/HuffPo/WashingtonPost/Kos to get behind the BLM movement. Again, this legitimizes the movement and forces Hillary to address it. She is doing so at a great political risk, this is undeniable. But because blacks are such reliable Democratic voters -- and necessary in November -- she must get in bed with a rather unsavory, politically risky group.

 

[Premium Post]
Obama's approval rating is dropping fast, as is Hillary's standing in the polls. All of this is very, very bad timing with the Republican National Convention next week. Back to the original premise of this thread -- I truly believe that the BLM movement is extremely damaging to the Democratic politicians, including Barry and Hillary. It highlights the racial division in this country that has gotten worse, not better, under Obama's tenure. The scenes are just ugly -- the rock throwing, the climbing on cars, the cursing and vulgarity, the violence -- this scares voters, especially the women. For Hillary to hitch her wagon in any way to this scary movement is going to take a political toll.


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