Former President Barack Obama has shattered modern precedence by entering the 2018 mid-term campaign; his eight-year presidency, however, hovers over his intrusion into the campaign.
His debut 2018 political speech at the University of Illinois was well-delivered and, at times, funny. But he could not explain why his eight-year economic growth pattern doesn’t come close to looking good over current growth.
His record: Slightly over-1-percent growth average for his eight years.
He didn’t slap President Trump around with job growth that started under his governance, nor did he hit hard on the corruption that has permeated the Trump government.
He didn’t mention that under President George W. Bush, GDP growth exceeded Obama’s GDP growth.
He fails to sway uncommitted voters. Example: his weekend appearance at the Anaheim Convention Center to promote California Democrats running in districts won by Hillary Clinton, flopped. Only 900 people appeared at a venue to greet President Obama. There are over 20 million people within a two-hour drive of Anaheim.
Meanwhile, his friends in the U.S. Senate made fools of themselves trying to make Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court look like a promoter of wire-coat-hanger use for “back alley” abortions. Especially bad were potential Democrat Presidential candidates; to wit: California’s Kamal Harris and New Jersey’s Booker.
She, because she dangled an alleged conversation Judge Brett Kavanaugh supposedly had about the Mueller Special counsel investigation with a (or several) lawyer(s) from a Washington, D.C., firm founded by President Trump’s former attorney. She presented no details or offer any facts to support her questions. His answer to her was “No.” She did not posit any details beyond asking the question. In political parlance, the word for her question was – “SMEAR.”
Senator Booker, on the other hand, is what we used to call a “wimp.”
Booker said he was challenging Senate “rules” by releasing documents marked confidential but the reality was he didn’t do that; the documents had been cleared for release before the committee session started. Booker lied.
So, entering the final 60 days before Election Day, we see President Obama’s entry into the campaign flopping in California. We see Democrat Senators in the Judiciary Committee flopping around like fish out of water and failing to make a dent in Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination. He’ll be approved with several Democrat Senate votes; at least two, plus all Republicans.
We see everlasting (and boring) optimism that a Texas Democrat with an arrest record can knock off a Republican Hispanic Senator, who might not be very likable, but who is, nevertheless, a Republican Hispanic in a solid Republican state that hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide for a generation.
That Hispanic-disliking historian Victor Davis Hansen calls Florida a “successful multi-racial state” in his book, “Mexifornia.” We see a campaign for governor that will be the most racially influenced election in the country this year, despite one Holocaust-denier running for Congress in Illinois.
Republican nominee, former Congressman Ron DeSantis, apparently spoke several times at conferences sponsored by former Communist David Horowitz in which well-known White Supremacists spoke. Most people do not consider Horowitz to be a racist and his conferences, like many, have a rainbow of speakers over time.
Suggesting that DeSantis may have racist feelings because he spoke at Horowitz conferences is pretty juvenile. We hope it doesn’t reflect what the campaign of Black Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum will look like in the coming weeks. An FBI investigation swirls around Gillum. Prediction: DeSantis will win.
As for the Florida Senate race, Republican Governor Rick Scott will receive heavy Puerto Rican and Cuban support and will probably win the race — with Hispanic votes. Bill Nelson, who?
Hispanics will carry much weight in the Texas Senate race and will give Senator Ted Cruz enough votes for his reelection. In Illinois, Hispanics can have an influence in the race between millionaires for governor.
Prediction: Republican incumbent Governor Bruce Rauner will win reelection with numerous Hispanic votes.
In California, Hispanics will elect Gavin Newsom governor but their votes will fall off in Democrat targeted congressional districts in Orange and San Diego counties denying Democrats the sweep of half-a-dozen districts they have targeted and that Obama tried to help in his failed appearance in Anaheim.
Mexican-American, Hispanic governors are termed out of office in New Mexico and Nevada. In the race to replace New Mexico’s Republican governor Susana Martinez, Republican Congressman Steve Pearce is statistically tied with Democrat nominee Congresswoman Michele Lujan Grisham 60 days out. Pearce has been endorsed by former Democrat Governor Jerry Apodaca.
In Nevada, Attorney General Adam Laxalt (a Hispanic if one stretches the definition to Basques) is running against Clark County (Las Vegas) Commissioner Steve Sisolak. The race is too close to call but betting money is on Laxalt. The winner replaces Governor Brian Sandoval.
Raoul Lowery-Contreras is the author of The Armenian Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy and “Murder in the Mountains: War Crime in Khojaly.” He also wrote for the New American News Service of the New York Times Syndicate.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller
