Dour Democrats Play the Race Card

Winning presidential campaign messaging typically declares optimistic assessments of America and our national potential. Ronald Reagan harnessed the “Morning in America” motifs of a country newly emboldened. Barack Obama pledged “Hope and Change” to lift the spirits of a country facing economic cataclysm. In 2016, Donald Trump promoted a concrete plan to “Make America Great Again.”

To be sure, successful national candidates identify the serious problems facing American society – and call out those they deem responsible. “In this present crisis,” Reagan said in his inaugural address, “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Bill Clinton’s 1992 rejoinder was that the 1980s were a “decade of greed.” Trump spoke often of the “carnage” he said was hollowing out entire communities. But all of them spoke hopefully of America’s future while reaffirming the noble promise of the American experiment.

In stark contrast, the presidential candidates onstage in Charleston, S.C., Tuesday night – and in all the Democrats’ proceeding debates -- described our country as some thoroughly racist, dystopian hellscape. Their assessment of the United States as a troubled country that resembles apartheid South Africa totally contradicts the reality of American life and trajectory of the key relevant metrics of national success today, from the confidence of our citizens to wage growth.

What explains this chasm between their sour lecture and the palpable optimism that presently pervades our land? Sadly, in election season the Democrats, by default, resort to their pandering playbook. If they can smear America as systemically racist and dismiss our America First movement as bigoted, then they hope to frighten minorities and shame whites into voting for their party.