The Horn of
Africa Vote in Virginia and Democratic Presidential Coattails
Amanuel
Biedemariam
Over 50,000 Virginians from the Horn of Africa (HoA)
will vote in the 2012 election. During the last Presidential election, nearly
all the votes went for President Obama in Northern Virginia and gave the
President a convincing victory in the State of Virginia. The momentum President
Obama had and the margins he led by was reasonable predictor that the President
will do well and he did. The 2012 election polls in the other hand are very
close to determine with Governor Romney edging one point ahead of the President
with 3-4% 0f the voters undecided. But how will this influence Virginia’s congressional
contests?
After the disastrous eight year of Bush
Administration, in 2008, President Obama was a welcome change not only for his racially
mixed background but for the fresh ideas, messages of hope and change that he
professed that people latched on to.
However,
President Obama not only continued Bush’s policies in the Horn but he hastened
it. President Obama chose to side with minorities of the constituencies from
the region that he believed could help him further his regional geopolitical
agendas of the region completely ignoring the overwhelming votes he received
from these constituencies in 2008. President Obama, like his predecessor
embraced Meles Zenawi, a tyrant the Genocide Watch considered to have committed
crimes against humanity that reached Stage 7 genocidal massacres against many
of its peoples, including the Anuak, Ogadeni, Oromo, and Omo tribes. President
Obama also pursued sanctions against Eritrea based on fabrications.
President
Obama could sell the unsuspecting and unfamiliar American anything he wants.
However the people from the region understand and know how deceiving, malicious
and destructive Obama policies are and have been for the people in the region.
The very fact that he championed a genocidal tyrant Meles Zenawi was enough to
compel many to write and openly campaign for voting Obama out of office.
There
are three facets to how people from the Horn region can influence the 2012
presidential and congressional races. A) In 2008, President Obama managed to
energize families, kids and the youth in a manner and enthusiasm unseen in
recent US presidential races. These groups campaigned for Obama like he is a
member of their family. B) The overwhelming support for Obama meant that he not
only received the votes of the energized electorate; the energy of the campaign
brought in new voters into the process that normally would not participate. C)
The overwhelming support for Obama from these groups meant that Republican
ticket will not enjoy the support of these groups.
Fast
forward to 2012; A) the energy and enthusiasm is not there. People are not
campaigning the way they did in 2008, and those that are campaigning for Obama
are receiving serious resistance based on the President’s track record. B) This
is damaging in two fronts; firstly, when they withhold their votes they take
votes away from the president. Most significantly, the lack of enthusiasm will
weaken the get-out to vote campaign that could directly influence the cattails
like the highly contested senatorial race between Tim Kaine and George Allen
amongst the other congressional races. When they sit-out the election, the
Democratic Party loses. This assertion assumes the votes for Obama translate
into votes for the Democratic Party. C) The most damaging is the protest vote
against Obama by voting for Romney.
These
scenarios present a net loss for President Obama’s reelection bid in Virginia.
Until recently, the President was oblivious to these constituencies when he
brought genocidal tyrant Meles Zenawi to Washington DC to talk about food
security and, when he sent Ambassador Susan Rice to make a mockery of the
traditions and customs of the region during the funeral services of agent Meles
Zenawi.
Moreover,
the democrat congressmen and senators competing for office face similar fate as
the president because they have heard the complaints of these constituencies
and benefited from fund raising activities these groups offered. Congressman
Jim Moran and Gerry Connolly represent a great example.
Conclusion
President
Obama’s influence on the Democratic Party in Virginia will be significant.
Mainstream media is oblivious to these critical constituencies. They have
failed to investigate, understand the intricacies of these constituencies and
failed to educate the public about the issues. All they did was parrot the
Administrations claims at face value.
As
it stands now, the Obama campaign is telling these constituencies that their
votes are too insignificant to matter while at the same time, coveting their
votes by telling these very groups that when it comes for the bread and butter
issues Obama is better than Romney. In a sense, he is selling fear.
The
number of votes Virginians from the Horn wield is significant. The way the Obama
Administration pursued his policies in the region managed to bring a new voting
bloc into the US election process as magnified in Virginia. It managed to bring
these constituencies together. For example, there exists cooperation between
various Ethiopian constituencies, Eritreans and Somalis in unprecedented
fashion. This voting bloc, while not as big in size like the Hispanic, Women’s
or Black voting blocs can play a decisive role in select states such as in
Virginia. This is what the Obama campaign overlooked over the last four
years.
This
raises the ante for the coattails because small numbers can determine the hotly
contested Virginia election. And how sympathetic the Democratic Party was to
these constituencies will largely determine the energy, enthusiasm and
commitment to get out and vote for them.
Awetnayu_at_hotmail.com
Received on Sat Oct 20 2012 - 21:30:57 EDT
