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The WashingTon informer Special iSSue
Congressional Black Caucus Supplement Inside •
C e l e b r a t i n g 4 7 Ye a r s o f S e r v i c e
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Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area / Vol. 47, No. 46 Sept. 13 - Sept. 19, 2012
Dems Roll Up Their Sleeves to Re-elect Obama
A delegate who attended the National Democratic Convention in Charlotte, N.C. speaks volumes without saying a word on Wednesday, September 5. /Photo by Khalid Naji Allah
By Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer Blanche Drakeford and Cora Floyd each addressed a small group of Obama supporters gathered in a meeting room at San Antonio Grill in Brookland last Thursday to watch the last evening of the Democratic National Convention. Their message to the listeners was unvarnished and blunt. Register, vote and encourage friends, family and all who they come in contact with to go to the polls. “We’ve got to get Barack Obama back in office,” Floyd said. “People thought he’d swoop in and change everything but there’s still a great deal of work to be done. If you pay $60 to go to a party and it’s raining, you’d still go to the party so if it’s raining on November 6, get out and vote. I’ll be doing all I can to get him re-elected. Drakeford offered a similar message. “This election is going to be close. People have lost their enthusiasm but there is a clear choice,” she said. “If the grassroots gets the vote out, that will get him re-elected. He has a record of success. I love him for his American values. Barack Obama makes a difference.” Jessica Thompson, her husband and neighbor Ben Friedman walked the few blocks from
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their homes to be a part of the crowd at the African Americans for Obama watch party in Northeast. “I thought we would come and hang out with fellow Democrats,” said Thompson, 33, and an expectant mother. “I am curious to see how his [Obama’s] speech will measure up to [Former President Bill] Clinton. And I’m curious to see if he talks about what he has delivered versus the future and moving ahead.” “… I’m grateful for his thoughtfulness and his intelligence but people have been disappointed sometimes because of his compromises. Overall, I’d give him a ‘B.’ I see a clear choice between him and [GOP challenger Mitt] Romney more so than in other years.” Across town at Touchdown, a sports bar and restaurant on U Street, a multicultural, multiethnic mélange of enthusiastic Democratic supporters gathered on three floors of the establishment to watch the convention, which took place over three days in Charlotte, N.C. Most of the patrons looked to be in their 20s and 30s, which is a key demographic the Obama campaign seeks to recapture. Whether it was the hundred or so people on the ground floor,
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