2012 called, and they want their Obama-era race-baiting back

One of the countless criticisms of Joe Biden’s presidency is that it’s simply a continuation of the Obama administration: a cheap attempt to replicate what came before, without much substance, or savvy, or talent.

Biden is essentially the Jojo Siwa of politics, trying to sell himself as an original thinker when all he’s doing is acting the part of his far superior predecessors.

And while there are multiple examples of this shameless copy-paste routine — with perhaps the deadliest being the continuation of the disastrous Obama foreign policy agenda, including the funding of terrorist regimes and opening the door to Russian military aggression — Biden is now leaning as hard as he can on former President Barack Obama’s last resort: race.

In an act of pandering that rivals Hillary Clinton’s hot-sauce moment, Biden launched a “Black Voters for Biden-Harris” campaign this week and then proceeded to stoke racial tensions like there was no tomorrow.

“What do you think he would’ve done on January 6th if Black Americans had stormed the Capitol? I don’t think he’d be talking about pardons,” Biden said.

Note that the longest term of imprisonment so far among hundreds of prosecutions relating to the Jan. 6 riot was handed to Mark Ponder, a 56-year-old black man.

“This is the same guy that wanted to tear gas you as you peacefully protested George Floyd’s murder,” Biden continued.

Why is Biden doing this, especially when he promised to be president for all Americans? Well, because Biden’s only skill is to plagiarize far more successful men.

And with the election looming, and pressure building, the similarities between 2024 and 2012 are staggering.

In 2008, following Obama’s victory, the country celebrated an undeniable milestone in the nation’s history: the election of an African American as president of the United States that would usher in the next chapter in the country’s post-racial journey.

Just four years later, however, Obama intentionally worked to undo that progress.

Not only did he specifically target black voters in a way that would have been condemned as overtly racist if Republicans did so with white voters, but he set the groundwork for the radical decriminalization we see across the country today, with the Obama administration leveraging the language of anti-racism to undermine law enforcement and enable criminals.

He also inserted himself in the early days of the Black Lives Matter movement, saying that if he had a son, he’d look like Trayvon Martin. When a grand jury decided not to indict the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown in 2014 after the 18-year-old committed a strong-arm robbery and then attacked the officer, Obama declared, “There are Americans who are deeply disappointed, even angry. It’s an understandable reaction.”

Later, Obama’s own Department of Justice quietly closed its federal investigation into both Martin’s death and Brown’s death, but Obama continued to bang the drum of racism nonetheless. 

And don’t forget: Biden was a supporting act, famously telling a black audience that Mitt Romney, Obama’s white opponent, wanted to “put them back in chains.”

Strong words from a man who once eulogized a KKK “exalted cyclops.” 

But who cares about inflaming racial tensions when it gets you votes? In 2008, Obama received 95% of the black vote, accepting the bizarre racial categorization of voters we continue to use without question. In 2012, Obama received 93% of the black vote.

But in the years that have followed, this rate has decreased slowly. In 2016, Hillary Clinton received 89% of the black vote. Joe Biden, with “historic” Kamala Harris grinning at his side, only managed 87% of the black vote.

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And with polls indicating a continued drop in support among minorities — because, guess what, minorities also care about pesky things such as inflation and crime and illegal immigration — the Democrats are panicking, and Biden is rushing to break out the Obama playbook: When in doubt, play the race card.

There’s only one problem for ol’ Joe Biden: He’s no Barack Obama.

Ian Haworth is a columnist, speaker, and podcast host. You can find him on Substack and follow him on X at @ighaworth.