I believe Obama is far too smart to simply believe black men are rejecting Kamala because she is a woman. I believe he knows black men are rejecting her for far more substantial reasons than "she is a woman"... however, the issues black male voters might be most concerned with are precisely the issues they cannot talk about as they are the primary antagonists against them (economic issues, attacks on masculinity, providing an economic framework to make one's own way).
If Obama does actually believe the root cause is mysogynism he provides no evidence for that claim. Perhaps black men don't view her as a competent leader, believe she is a change candidate, haven't been persuaded by her policy advancements, etc. Instead of trying to address the core concerns of this voting demographic, the default is to shame these voters while not addressing their concerns in the first place.
"Well I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for [Biden] or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
- Joe Biden (2020)
“And you are thinking about sitting out? Part of it makes me think — and I'm speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
I believe Obama is far too smart to simply believe black men are rejecting Kamala because she is a woman. I believe he knows black men are rejecting her for far more substantial reasons than "she is a woman"... however, the issues black male voters might be most concerned with are precisely the issues they cannot talk about as they are the primary antagonists against them (economic issues, attacks on masculinity, providing an economic framework to make one's own way).
If Obama does actually believe the root cause is mysogynism he provides no evidence for that claim. Perhaps black men don't view her as a competent leader, believe she is a change candidate, haven't been persuaded by her policy advancements, etc. Instead of trying to address the core concerns of this voting demographic, the default is to shame these voters while not addressing their concerns in the first place.
"Well I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for [Biden] or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
- Joe Biden (2020)
“And you are thinking about sitting out? Part of it makes me think — and I'm speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
- Barack Obama (2024)
Although I despise Trump, I can think of two excellent reasons as to why some black men are dissuaded from voting for Kamala https://davidgottfried.substack.com/p/why-some-black-men-dont-like-kamala