By Hazel Trice Edney, TriceEdneyWire.com – President Obama had barely begun his remarks before shouts of “I love you!” came from the audience, tributes upon his final speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner.
He returned the words, but did not linger. He quickly moved to the business at hand – hammering the urgency for Black voters to support Hillary Clinton at the polls Nov. 8, delivering arguably his most powerful address to the “conscious of the Congress.”
With thunder in his voice, the President said to repeated applause, “There’s no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter! It all matters! And after we have achieved historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the African-American community, I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy, if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election! You want to give me a good sendoff? Go vote! And I’m going to be working as hard as I can these next seven weeks to make sure folks do!”
As billionaire businessman Donald Trump attempts to discourage Black votes from Clinton and supporters of former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders express hopelessness, some vowing not to vote, President Obama reminded what’s at stake as voters choose between Clinton and Trump.
“Hope is on the ballot! And fear is on the ballot, too,” he said, repeating, “Hope is on the ballot, and fear is on the ballot, too!”
Earlier, the President had begun the speech joking that he had an “extra spring in my step tonight” because he was “so relieved that the whole birther thing is over.” Click here for the full story on DistrictChronicles.com.
