Today's Hillary News & Views begins with an op-ed from Clinton about the water crisis in Flint.
Clinton writes for MSNBC:
What’s happening in Flint, Michigan, is unconscionable.
A city of 99,000 people — 56 percent African-American, 40 percent living below the poverty line — has spent nearly two years with poisoned water.
Nearly two years of boil orders, foul smells and false reassurances that the water was safe to drink.
Nearly two years of having residents’ concerns dismissed and belittled by the state government.
Now, thousands of kids may have been exposed to harmful levels of lead, which can irreparably harm brain development and cause learning and behavioral problems. The rate of lead poisoning among children has nearly doubled since Flint approved a state-appointed emergency manager’s plan to switch their water source. And even now that the state is finally launching a belated response, Flint’s undocumented immigrant community is reportedly afraid to get the help they need.
Flint isn’t alone. There are a lot more Flints out there — overwhelmingly low-income communities of color where pollution, toxic chemicals and staggering neglect adds to families’ burdens.
We need to face some hard truths about race and justice in America. After 250 years of slavery, 90 years of Jim Crow, and decades of “separate but equal,” our country’s struggle with racism is far from over. That’s true in our criminal justice system. In our education system. In employment, housing, and transit. And tragically, it’s true in the very air our children breathe and in the water they drink.
What’s happening in Flint today happened 10 years ago in predominantly low-income, African-American and Latino areas of Washington, D.C. Lead leached into the water there for four years. In high-risk neighborhoods, the number of toddlers and infants with lead poisoning more than doubled.
In Baltimore, families have received settlements for the lifelong health effects of childhood lead poisoning. And now private companies are going around getting people, many of whom are permanently disabled, to sign away hundreds of thousands of dollars in future payments in exchange for a few thousand dollars right away. It’s an outright abuse of vulnerable people who have been hurt too many times already.
Near San Francisco, where housing prices have skyrocketed, many low-income families live in more-affordable Richmond, California. Richmond is 26 percent African-American and 40 percent Latino, and the housing prices are low for a reason—because the city is surrounded by oil refineries, chemical companies and eight Superfund sites. It’s no surprise that the city has the highest hospitalization rate for asthma in all of Contra Costa County.
Twenty seven schools are within 1 mile of a high-risk chemical facility in the Manchester neighborhood of Houston — a neighborhood that is 85 percent Latino. In Manchester, rates of childhood leukemia, asthma and bronchitis are all above average. The children who go to public schools there are 56 percent more likely to get leukemia than kids who live 10 miles away.
And low-income white communities are by no means immune. In 2008, 525 million gallons of toxic coal ash, which contains lead and thallium, among other toxins, spilled in Tennessee, covering 3,000 acres of land, destroying 12 homes and flowing into the Tennessee River, which provides drinking water. The long legacy of coal mining has left Appalachia and other coal regions pockmarked with toxic sites in need of cleanup.
Environmental justice can’t just be a slogan — it has to be a central goal. Cities are full of lead paint in low-income housing, lead embedded in the very soil from the days of leaded gasoline. Already, African-American children are twice as likely to suffer from asthma as white children — and climate change will put vulnerable populations at even greater risk.
I’m not new to this fight. As first lady, I worked with the EPA to bring attention to the link between air pollution and child asthma. In the Senate, I made this a central issue, fighting for more support for lead paint and soil remediation in New York and across the country, pushing the EPA to establish indoor air quality standards for schools, and working across the aisle to call for a national program tracking the health effects of pollution. At the State Department, I took the fight for environmental justice worldwide with the Clean Cookstoves Initiative.
And as president, I will make environmental justice a central part of my comprehensive commitment to low-income communities of color — by pursuing cleaner transportation; ambitious steps to reduce air pollution; dedicated efforts to clean up toxic sites; more resources for lead remediation; and greener, more resilient infrastructure. Because clean air and clean water are basic human rights — and our rights shouldn’t change between ZIP codes.
Communities and kids across our country have been bearing the burden of environmental racism for too long. It’s harming their health, their educations, every aspect of their lives and futures. We can no longer accept the status quo — and as president, I never will.
Clinton would like a Democratic debate in Flint to help put a national spotlight on the crisis.
Politico reports:
“We’ve agreed to an additional debate in N.H. and are currently in discussions to agree to additional debates — we think one of them should be in Flint," said campaign chairman John Podesta in a statement on Saturday afternoon, referring to the ongoing negotiations over scheduling new debates. The Sanders and Clinton camps agreed in principle to schedule new ones earlier on Saturday.
"The water crisis in Flint is unconscionable. It’s been going on for years, as the people of Flint repeatedly asked for help and were ignored by state government. As Hillary has said, this would not have happened in a wealthy community. It was only when the crisis was finally brought to national attention that real steps were taken to begin to address the immediate issues like access to clean water and health monitoring, and longer term health and infrastructure challenges," said Podesta.
Clinton picked up some more high profile endorsements yesterday, from both newspapers and prominent elected leaders and activists.
The New York Times endorses:
Democratic primary voters, on the other hand, after a substantive debate over real issues, have the chance to nominate one of the most broadly and deeply qualified presidential candidates in modern history.
Hillary Clinton would be the first woman nominated by a major party. She served as a senator from a major state (New York) and as secretary of state — not to mention her experience on the national stage as first lady with her brilliant and flawed husband, President Bill Clinton. The Times editorial board has endorsed her three times for federal office — twice for Senate and once in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary — and is doing so again with confidence and enthusiasm.
One of the most attractive parts of Mrs. Clinton’s economic platform is her pledge to support the well-being and rights of working Americans. Her lifelong fight for women bolsters her credibility in this area, since so many of the problems with labor law hit women the hardest, including those involving child care, paid sick leave, unstable schedules and low wages for tipped workers.
Mrs. Clinton is keenly aware of the wage gap for women, especially for women of color. It’s not just that she’s done her homework — Mrs. Clinton has done her homework on pretty much any subject you’d care to name. Her knowledge comes from a commitment to issues like reproductive rights that is decades old. She was well ahead of Mr. Sanders in calling for repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which severely limits federal money to pay for abortions for poor women.
As secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton worked tirelessly, and with important successes, for the nation’s benefit. She was the secretary President Obama needed and wanted: someone who knew leaders around the world, who brought star power as well as expertise to the table. The combination of a new president who talked about inclusiveness and a chief diplomat who had been his rival but shared his vision allowed the United States to repair relations around the world that had been completely trashed by the previous administration.
Mrs. Clinton, who has been accused of flip-flopping on trade, has shown a refreshing willingness to learn and to explain, as she has in detail, why she changed her mind on trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. She is likely to do more to help workers displaced by the forces of trade than previous presidents have done, and certainly more than any of the Republicans.
Hillary Clinton is the right choice for the Democrats to present a vision for America that is radically different from the one that leading Republican candidates offer — a vision in which middle-class Americans have a real shot at prosperity, women’s rights are enhanced, undocumented immigrants are given a chance at legitimacy, international alliances are nurtured and the country is kept safe.
Iowa City Press Citizen endorses:
Clinton, for her part, has resolutely refused the notion contributions from Wall Street influence her policies, and she went through her plan to curb the financial sector's influence on the economy in a meeting with the Press-Citizen editorial board. It was a key moment in the hourlong interview, where Clinton got forceful about the shadow banking sector and demonstrated an extreme competence built over decades as a first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.
That animation, and the zeal with which she's approached these final days before the Iowa caucus, show her capacity to fight for what she believes in. It showed she can be just as passionate as Sanders when it comes to defending working people from the excesses of the ruling class. And it is, in large part, why we endorse her for the Democratic nomination.
There can be little doubt that in terms of raw experience, there is no more qualified person for the presidency than Hillary Clinton. No candidate on either side of the aisle has racked up the credentials she has, and she has done so under sustained attack from members of both parties. It's the opinion of the board there might not be a more qualified candidate in the modern history of the United States.
In her tenure as first lady, Clinton fought for universal health care legislation that was roundly defeated by special interests and politicians in both parties. That loss, claimed as debilitative to Clinton's political future, instead appeared to temper her for fierce upcoming fights. Clinton licked her wounds and came back with the Children's Health Insurance Program with support from Republicans and Democrats, and it seemed a new approach was born.
Citing deals struck at all levels of government by finding common ground with Republicans, Clinton is campaigning on a record of accomplishment. Up to the moment she announced she was running for president, many of her former colleagues would have agreed with that assessment. High-profile figures like Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and former presidential candidate Lindsey Graham had praise for Clinton over her time in Washington, and though Democratic primary voters might not consider that a strength, it will do well for her chances in a general election, no matter the opposition.
Oregon Live reports:
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said Saturday he was finally ready to reveal his pick: Hillary Clinton.
The endorsement from Oregon's senior senator isn't all that surprising. Wyden has previously said he generally supported and liked Clinton — a former secretary of state and U.S. senator from New York — but always stopped short of making things official, saying the time wasn't right.
Now that voting is about to start, Wyden said, things have changed. He explained his rationale in a phone interview from Medford, where he appeared at an event for Planned Parenthood.
"The last few years, a number of new forces have emerged in American politics," he said, "forces that deny science, forces that believe constitutional protections are only for their own beliefs, forces that reject bipartisanship in the name of ideology.
"Secretary Clinton, as president, has the passion and the energy and the skills to push back on those developments and offer an alternative."
Wyden also said the timing of his announcement, coming as he shows public support for Planned Parenthood, wasn't coincidence. He said Clinton has supported women's issues and reproductive rights since coming to Washington, D.C., in 1993 as first lady. That work, he said, continued as they worked alongside each other in the Senate.
"Planned Parenthood, particularly the family planning work they do, is one of the best strategies to reduce abortions," he said. "She's been in the vanguard of those issues."
Former Obama administration member Mike Beland writes for The Concord Monitor:
When President Obama delivered his first inaugural address in 2009, he catalogued the challenges facing our country and tried to set expectations that it would take time to fully recover from the problems we confronted: “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are . . . serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time.”
While significant progress has been made, the work is not yet complete. As someone who was born and raised in New Hampshire and worked in the Obama administration, I believe that Hillary Clinton is the only candidate who is both committed to President Obama’s agenda and capable of executing it.
As someone who was barely 30 when President Obama was inaugurated, I was shocked by the immediate, vehement opposition of the other party. That this opposition persistently existed in the face of the historic election in 2008 amidst crises at home and abroad leads me to believe that the Democratic nominee must be someone who not only shares our values – broad-based economic growth, a clean environment, a foreign policy infused with strength and humility, and the elimination of discrimination in all of its forms – but is also able to successfully execute this agenda while being confronted by those constantly seeking its demise.
New Hampshire Democratic primary voters are fortunate to have their leading candidates be Sen. Sanders and Secretary Clinton. They are both dedicated to President Obama’s agenda. Given this equal commitment, who among them can better ensure the continued implementation of President Obama’s policies?
I support Secretary Clinton because I believe she is the stronger candidate to continue what President Obama started. She has dedicated her life to strengthening our country – at home and abroad, and through service to two branches of our government. Her values echo what President Obama has worked tirelessly for since 2009. More than her primary opponent, she has proven how to navigate Washington in order to get things done. She is clear-eyed about how to make the machine of government work and possesses strong relationships in both parties. She will, therefore, be better able to seamlessly continue President Obama’s agenda and make modifications as events warrant. I also believe her time in the president’s administration will make her a stronger president than if she had been elected in 2008 and that the important issues Sen. Sanders has raised in this campaign will make her policies more effective.
After observing Washington for the past seven years, New Hampshire voters soon have an opportunity to make a statement about which candidate shares President Obama’s vision and has the better ability to preserve it in our capital’s current climate.
As our nominee, Secretary Clinton will draw a historic contrast in November and position our country to continue what was started on that cold, sunny day in January 2009.
Lily Ledbetter has endorsed Clinton.
The Washington Post reports:
Lilly Ledbetter, namesake of the first law President Obama signed in 2009, said Clinton is a "fierce and uncompromising champion for women, for basic fairness, and for opportunity for everyone."
"Hillary understands that these issues can’t be dismissed or pushed to the sidelines. They’re not just 'social issues' — they’re fundamental to our country’s economic future, and they are at the heart of everything she’s fighting for on this campaign," Ledbetter wrote. "For Hillary, this is about more than politics — it’s personal. She just gets it, plain and simple."
Gabby Giffords is heartbreakingly succinct on the campaign trail for Clinton.
ABC News reports:
"Speaking is hard for me," the former congresswoman said on stage at Iowa State University. "But January, come January, I want to say these two words: Madame President."
Giffords, who was shot in the head five years ago during a shooting in Arizona, endorsed Clinton earlier this month citing gun control as the key issue. Today was her first public campaign event with the Democratic presidential candidate.
"Hillary is tough. Hillary is courageous," Giffords told the crowd of roughly 1,100. "In the White House she will stand up to the gun lobby. That's why I'm voting for Hillary."
When Hillary Clinton took the stage, she hugged Giffords, and then thanked her and Kelly for their "courage" and "sense of mission" as she vowed to take on the gun lobby as president.
"I really agree so much with them. That it is time, my friends, to stand up for common sense gun safety measures, to stand up against the gun lobby. And to turn that into a voting issue," Clinton said.
Here voice growing louder, she added: "What is wrong with us? How can we continue to ignore the toll that this is taking on our children and our country?"
Politico has more:
“The vast majority of Americans agree with Gabby and Mark’s common sense approach,” she said, “but they vote on many things. Whereas those who oppose this mission that Gabby and Mark are leading, they vote only on one issue. That is how they end up intimidating members of Congress.”
Clinton grew animated when talking about how the NRA is interested in “lowering the age from 14 to let more children legally have guns. What kind of debate is that? I have heard about what happens to children...finding that loaded gun. I’ve heard the stories, I’ve seen the news reports, about the ones who are killed.”
Clinton was joined by her husband on the campaign trail yesterday.
Des Moines Register reports:
“She was born to a conservative Republican father and a liberal Democratic mother. Thank God for the rest of us, she embraced her mother’s politics and never quite gave up her father’s hard-headedness,” he joked.
Bill Clinton’s 10-minute introduction marked his most extensive remarks while sharing an Iowa stage with his wife this election cycle. He’s been taking a more active role in the campaign as next Monday’s caucuses approach, using a low-key delivery to focus on Hillary Clinton.
“She’s the best change agent I’ve ever known,” he told the audience.
Hillary Clinton recounted how the economy recovered under her husband’s presidency in the 1990s. “Twenty-three million new jobs, and incomes went up for everybody, not just those at the top,” she declared, her voice rising as the crowd cheered. “Middle class, working class – more poor people were lifted out of poverty than at any time in recent history. And we ended up with a balanced budget and a surplus.”
Now, she said, Republicans “want to go back to what failed us before. That’s what they’re saying.”
CNN edited her quote in the headline, but beyond that, some great words from Clinton in the actual article:
"I think I am a different, and perhaps a better, candidate, so I hope that also shows," Clinton said in an interview after she toured Iowa's African American Festival at Hy-Vee Hall.
"I think I learned a lot (from that race)," she said. "But also I have some additional experience that is incredibly relevant to being president and commander in chief. Those four years as secretary of state gave me a front-row seat on the opportunities and the perils that we face in the world. So I feel very much confident and ready to do the job."
Although Clinton said she feels "really good about our campaign here in Iowa" and is "proud of the grass-roots organizing" her campaign has done, she acknowledged that the mood of the country is "unsettled" and that she has had to grapple with that as a candidate.
"I think people know we have to further the progress that has been made under President Obama," Clinton said. "I don't think the great majority of Democrats or open-minded independents want us to rip up what we have achieved. ... I don't think Americans want to turn the clock back on the rights that have been gained."
She added, "I think that the mood of the country is, of course, wanting to move forward. ... I think I offer a very clear understanding of what we have to do and how to get it done."
Clinton has made that argument on the stump across Iowa, casting herself as the candidate most prepared to build on President Barack Obama's legacy. Obama's first secretary of state, however, deflected a question about whether she feels she has the President's support.
"We became close partners and real friends, and I have a high level of commitment to see his accomplishments get recognized," Clinton said. "And I will stand up to Republican attacks against him personally and his record. I know how hard it is to do what he accomplished, and I want to build on that."
Clinton would not say whether she thinks Sanders understands what Obama has done.
"I can't speak for him," she said.
Gloria Steinem stumped for Clinton in New Hampshire.
Valley News reports:
While she supported Hillary Clinton’s 2008 bid for the White House, Gloria Steinem, who rose to national prominence before founding Ms. magazine in 1972, admitted that she didn’t think Clinton could win — too many people, she said, had too many hangups about the idea of a female president.
Now, she said, the country is in a different place.
“More people are accustomed to seeing that human talent comes in all forms,” Steinem said. “This time, for the first time, I feel that she can be elected. And that is monumental.”
Rep. Sharon Nordgren, D-Hanover, an active Clinton supporter who introduced Steinem to the crowd, touched on similar themes.
“Young people need to hear, obviously, the fight hasn’t ended,” Nordgren said.
Steinem’s ability to connect with women a quarter of her age was tested just minutes later when, after leaving Kendal, she drove with Nordgren and other Clinton campaign staff to Morano Gelato, which sells much of its frozen treats to Dartmouth College students who have ventured off campus and into the downtown area.
KUA classmates Olivia Massey and Alex Caron, who said that, while doing a school theater project two weeks ago, they had come across a reference to Steinem and researched her online to learn more about her.
That search triggered an awakening to a whole range of issues, they said.
“It’s important for people our age to hear what she’s about,” Caron said.
The girls’ teacher, Lyn Lord, called Steinem “inspiring.” While there are many active and important female voices in the drive for women empowerment, Lord said, none have crossed over into the mainstream like Steinem did.
Another KUA student, senior Persie Naylor, said she had walked into the gelato shop intending to vote for Sanders, but she walked out planning to vote for Clinton.
“I wasn’t thinking about it before, but it really is important to have a woman there,” she said.
The other students who were of voting age agreed.
Peter Rosenstein pitches Clinton to millennials in his latest piece for the Huffington Post:
For over twenty-five years Republicans and the elite east coast media have tried to bring down Hillary and Bill Clinton. They have been stymied by the truth and by all both Clintons have accomplished for the country.
Contrary to what Bernie Sanders and his campaign have said; groups representing women, the LGBT community and workers who have endorsed Hillary are not the establishment. Unions representing 15 million workers have endorsed her. Women's organizations providing needed healthcare to poor women including NARAL and Planned Parenthood endorsed her.
Organizations representing the LGBT community including HRC, LPAC and California Equality have endorsed her. Those fighting climate change like the League of Conservation Voters have endorsed her. They understand it is Hillary who has spent her lifetime fighting the establishment alongside them and will continue to do that as President.
There are members of the Democratic establishment who endorsed her. They include hundreds of past and present members of Congress with nearly all members of the Progressive Caucus; twelve sitting Democratic governors; hundreds of Democratic office holders across the nation; and multiple newspaper editorial boards. All because they trust Hillary can get the things she says she wants to do done.
In 1993 well before anyone even noticed Bernie Sanders, Hillary was fighting for universal healthcare and took on big pharma and the healthcare industry. What she learned from losing that fight, which apparently Sanders has yet to learn, is the nation is not ready for a single-payer system. But Hillary continued to fight and won healthcare for eight million children. Hillary supports the Affordable Care Act and wants to improve it to cut out of pocket expenses, reduce drug costs and cut premiums. Sanders says he will accept nothing less than a single-payer system and calls for massive tax increases to pay for it. The lie he promulgates is that this can happen now when after introducing this bill nine times he knows for a fact it has zero chance of happening. Hillary has laid out a realistic plan to improve the Affordable Care Act but will not put in jeopardy what we have already won; students and millennials can now stay on their parents insurance till they are twenty-six; women are no longer penalized with higher premiums because they are women; pre-existing conditions like cancer are no longer a reason insurance companies can use to deny insurance.
The New York Times reports that voters are suddenly discovering Clinton’s Methodist faith (which is shorthand for, “We at the Times just discovered Clinton’s Methodist faith!):
On Sunday, she spoke about “the core of Christ’s message” at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids.
Then on Monday here in Knoxville, when a voter asked if her beliefs aligned with the Ten Commandments, Mrs. Clinton reflected at length and spontaneously on her religious outlook.
“I am a person of faith. I am a Christian. I am a Methodist,” she said. “My study of the Bible, my many conversations with people of faith, has led me to believe the most important commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself,” she continued, “and that is what I think we are commanded by Christ to do.”
n Knoxville, Mrs. Clinton referred to the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew after Jessica Manning, 36, a high school guidance counselor who opposes abortion rights, said she was conflicted about being Roman Catholic and supporting a Democrat.
“What does the Sermon on the Mount really mean?” Mrs. Clinton said, referring to the sermon in which the eight Beatitudes are outlined by Jesus Christ, including “Blessed are the meek.” “It sure does seem to favor the poor and the merciful, and those who in worldly terms don’t have a lot, but who have the spirit that God recognizes as the core of love and salvation.”
Her response, drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, deeply impressed Mrs. Manning: “I really thought she nailed her answer,” she said.
Mrs. Manning said she had not known Mrs. Clinton was so religious. “I hoped so, but I didn’t,” she said, adding: “I feel like she is genuine.”
The reporting from Clinton’s Philadelphia visit last week missed the larger picture of why Clinton was in town.
NBC News reports:
More than half of the African-American ministers who attended a Philadelphia meeting with Hillary Clinton on Wednesday have endorsed the Democratic front-runner, her campaign confirmed Saturday.
Clinton met with 50 clergy members for a wide-ranging, two-hour discussion ahead of an investment firm fundraiser with rocker Bon Jovi earlier this week. Since then, 28 ministers have pledged their support to Clinton, with more endorsements coming next week, an aide said.
Rev. Mark Tyler, who hosted the gathering at his church, said he went into the meeting not expecting to endorse Clinton but walked away with a positive impression.
"She was extremely warm and personable," Tyler told NBC News. "I think a lot of people in that room felt the same way.
Pastors from parishes across the country discussed criminal justice, income inequality, health care and environmental disasters with Clinton at Mother Bethel A.M.E. church in Society Hill, Philadelphia.
At one point, Clinton spoke forcefully about Flint, Michigan's water emergency, which several members of the meeting said compelled them to endorse her.
"She brought attention to the crisis in Flint, demanded action, and expressed her intent to bring to light the other Flints that occur in our country all too often," Maryland Rev. Zina Pierre said. "She is qualified and equipped to do the job and represent all Americans regardless of religion or color."
Tyler called the group of faith leaders - who traveled from Louisiana, Texas, California and beyond - "some of the most significant African-American clergy persons in the country."
"I want to be your partner, not just your president," Clinton told them.
Several of the meeting's attendees urged Clinton to hold a press conference, but the campaign decided against it because they didn't want to turn the meeting into a "spectacle."
During the meeting, Tyler said he was very pleased that Clinton brought up historically black colleges and universities and "put a dollar amount" on HBCU support if elected president.
The Washington Post has more:
“Now I doubt that I am saying anything that you don’t already know,” Clinton told the gathering at Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, “but anyone running for president should see things as they actually are, not just as we want them to be, talk about the real problems not try to create and inhabit some alternative universe.” The reality she laid out was indeed stark.
“We know there are systemic inequities that haunt our economies, our laws, our schools, our prisons, our hospitals, even our water supply. And as Dr. Hale said, there is something wrong when African Americans are nearly three times as likely as whites to be denied a mortgage. Or when the median wealth for white families in 2013 was over $134,000 but for black families it was $11,000. Or when the rate of African American unemployment remains stubbornly high while the country as a whole is slowly doing better. And far too many communities struggle to overcome a legacy of poverty and neglect. There is something wrong when African Americans are more likely to be arrested, charged, and sentenced to longer prison terms than white people for doing the exact same crimes. Or when so many encounters between African Americans and the police end up in humiliation or worse. There is something wrong when our schools are more segregated today than they were in 1968.
“And there is something deeply wrong when people in an American city like Flint, Michigan, have been drinking and bathing in poisoned water for almost two years. They told their state government but no one could be bothered to listen. We know there are more Flints out there. Communities, often poor and black, and often poor and Latino, where kids’ lives and health are at risk every single day. Some of you are from Baltimore. You know, I am sure, that families receive settlements for childhood lead poisoning in Baltimore. Now private companies are trying to get those families to sign away the money they deserve for tiny payouts.
Why that discussion and the one in Philadelphia, in tone and topic, are politically important is explained in “Brown Is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority” by Steve Phillips. Using census and voting data, the politically active senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and co-founder of PowerPAC.org convincingly argues that there is a “New American Majority” that comprises 51 percent of the voting age population in the United States.
“Progressive people of color now comprise 23 percent of all the eligible voters in America, and progressive Whites account for 28 percent of all eligible voters,” Phillips writes. “The New American Majority electoral equation requires securing the support of 81 percent of people of color and 39 percent of Whites.” Phillips details some compelling census data to consider.
“Any discussion of the Democratic base must include the acknowledgment that that base is heavily Black,” Phillips writes. “As Barack Obama showed, successful candidacies require a large and enthusiastic Black vote.” And this gets at the thesis of his book. “Progressives cannot win going forward without large and enthusiastic support from people of color,” Phillips argues. “White can no longer be the starting point. We must now begin with Brown, and that is why Brown is the new White.”