The Invisible Hillary Voter: A Series
I’m an older, minority millennial that emphatically supported Barack Obama in 2008’s primary and general elections. For many first time voters close to my age, Obama represented a clean break from the Bush years. Here was a man untainted by scandal, Washington, and most importantly, Iraq. He gave electrifying speeches, hit all the right notes and made a genuine effort to mobilize young voters. His intelligence was unmatched and his personality was magnetic. His policy spoke to a country weary of war and petrified by the then-nascent recession. Sound a bit familiar?
Barack Obama was my Bernie Sanders. Obama, however, recognized the importance of something that Bernie never grasped: coalition building. Bernie arrogantly sought to build a new coalition that disproportionately relied on young voters and disaffected, left-leaning whites. Indeed his biggest victories were in the whitest states in the union. Bernie lost because he failed to harness the multi-racial coalition that makes up the Democratic Party’s base. It’s the same coalition that put Barack Obama in the White House twice. And it’s the same coalition that will likely make Hillary Clinton the 45th President of the United States. As one of my favorite Twitter follows often says: expect us.
Hillary voters are, by and large, the Obama Coalition. Early in the campaign, I held back on supporting Hillary. I wanted to know what type of campaign she would run. If it was going to be like 2008, I was out. If she was going to run against the president, I was out. But she didn’t. She embraced President Obama tighter than I would’ve ever imagined and that sealed it. I want a candidate who’s running for Barack Obama’s third term. That flies in the face of almost every narrative out there but look at the polls. I’m confident he’d win a 3rd term in a walk. This isn’t a change election. Obama set a standard and times are perilous. I want a candidate who will stay the course and a president that govern pragmatically and responsibly. Barack Obama has set the bar and Hillary seems to realize that. It’s why, in the end, #ImWithHer. Enthusiastically.
Over the coming days, I will publish a series of essays examining the Hillary voter, the Obama Coalition and our role in this election. We’ve been under-covered, underrated and ignored. There’s a new silent majority in this country and our voice will be heard.
