LARRY KUDLOW: Former President Obama pulls out the race card for Kamala Harris

Former President Barack Obama is pulling out the race card in order to rally black votes for Kamala Harris.

"We have not yet seen the same kind of energy and turnout in all corners of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running. Now, I also want to say that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers."

So, in other words, Kamala's deteriorating polls can be blamed on ... Blacks? I guess that's what he's saying. Sure doesn't sound like an economic analysis, or illegal immigration and crime, or inflation.

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No, it must be race. And so, upon that sinking pillar doth the former president somehow rest his case. Of all kinds of politics, divisive racial politics are always the worst kind of politics.

And then, he has the audacity to suggest that Black voters won't vote for a woman. This whole Obama package is condescending, insulting, and demeaning.

When Obama plays the race card, he's demeaning the entire country. And I'll bet you Americans of all stripes are sick and tired of it.

Polling suggests a higher percentage of Black Americans are planning to vote for Mr. Trump, with 1-in-4 Black men under 50 years old backing the former president, according to a recent survey by the NAACP.

The Trump camp has been targeting working-class male Blacks under the age of 50 for several years now. With special focus on those in their twenties and thirties.

And it's not hard to figure out why. First, there's the economy.

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Take a look at take-home pay. Among Blacks, Trump's performance at $4,540 is roughly twice what Biden and Harris have produced. Perhaps Obama doesn't understand take-home pay, or the Census Bureau category which is called "real median income.’

Then, check out the unemployment rate.

Under Trump, pre-COVID male Black unemployment plunged to 4.8%, and that at the time was a record low. As recently as this summer, as voters are making up their mind, Black male unemployment was 6.7% – almost two full percentage points lower under Trump than under Biden-Harris.

That's the kind of thing that would make you vote for Trump. Not the race card.

Then, Obama is trying to sell the phony idea that the reason Trump's economy was superb is because he handed him one.

Take a listen:

Former President Obama: "Donald Trump's plan is to do what he did last time, which was give another massive tax cut to billionaires and big corporations. … And the reason some people think, well, I don't know, I remember that economy when he first came in being pretty good… Yeah, it was pretty good because it was my economy!"

Oops, ok. Here we go – fact check: During the last two years of the Obama administration, real GDP growth barely averaged 2%. The Trump economy pre-pandemic ran close to 3% and sometimes moved up over 4%.

Then again, the last two years of Obama, the manufacturing sector was in full recession with a nearly 1% decline. That's not a strong economy. That's an economy on the cusp of recession, which Trump's tax cuts had to fully resuscitate.

And, then, Obama is telling audiences to ignore the issue of illegal immigration. Really?

Rampant crime associated with 10 million plus illegal immigrants in recent years -- that doesn't affect black people? Is that right?

Well, I suppose a bunch of people -- be they white, Black, brown, Asian, or whatever -- might disagree with Obama on that one, as well. Since illegal immigration and the related breakdown of public safety just happens to be the second most important issue in this entire presidential election.

In a 50-minute speech, Obama failed to mention crime and safety even once.

And, as Donald Trump has said many times, all these sanctuary cities harboring illegal criminals and preventing deportation – all that’s costing those very same cities an absolute fortune. Not just with the crime itself, but the welfare-related costs that the sanctuary cities are spending on the illegals, and therefore crowding out welfare and other social services for those Americans who truly need the help. Many of whom are going to be African-Americans.

Also, it is true, at least to some extent, that illegals are taking jobs from native-born Americans. Take a 20-something year old young Black man, looking for his first job. You don't think that young man is afraid that all the illegal immigrants coming across the border will take his job away, or at minimum knock down the wages he might earn because of the cheap labor?

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I'm just thinking here in common sense terms.

Barack Obama ought to think about the same serious issues – like the economy, inflation, illegal immigration, and crime – that the rest of American voters are thinking about.

Get rid of your race card, Mr. Obama. And start thinking about these real world problems that Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, everyone has to deal with. Even Barack Obama.

And that's "The Riff."

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the Oct. 11, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."