Sanders Scraps Speech on Race (Relations) in Michigan

[left-of-center2012]

At a town hall on “racial and economic justice” in Flint, Michigan, Sanders was scheduled to deliver a prewritten speech that spokesman Mike Casca said would “directly address the African-American community” and contrast the Vermont senator’s record with Biden’s.

Instead, Sanders delivered a roughly 30-minute version of his stump speech to a mostly white crowd and made little mention of issues of race. A six-person panel that included Cornel West, a Harvard philosophy professor and top Sanders surrogate, then addressed issues of racial inequities.

“They talked over the idea and decided it was probably better to let the people of color who were on the panel discuss instead of him giving a traditional speech,” Casca said in explaining why the speech was scrapped.

Casca, the Sanders spokesman, said the last-minute changes did not dilute the candidate’s message. He said the campaign achieved its goal of making clear why Sanders would be a better president for black voters, though he did not give specific examples of why Sanders’ record is superior to Biden’s. He also refused to share any details about what Sanders had planned to say in his speech.

“We are making inroads,” Casca said about the campaign’s outreach to black voters.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-08/sanders-scarps-speech-on-race-in-michigan-defers-to-surrogates?srnd=politics-vp

[Gothmog]

1. This was a bad move

Link to tweet

[LiberalFighter]

2. Mostly white audience?

Is that who they are trying to sway in Michigan?

[BlueIdaho]

3. Yup...

It’s the old - Say nice things about blacks to reassure a white liberal audience he’s really good on racial issues - play.