“When Obama was elected it was thrilling,” the ad starts off, but the African-American man and woman on screen quickly begin questioning whether President Barack Obama should be re-elected for a second term.
“What has he done as president?” the woman in the video asks.
The answer they give is that he’s cut aid to Black colleges and businesses.
“And his support of gay marriage is a slap in the face to people of faith,” the woman adds.
The video is one of two political ads Pivot Point, a PAC launched earlier this year, is airing on BET in the Seattle, Washington and Cleveland, Ohio areas. The other ad, below, features soundbites from Mitt Romney’s speech to the NAACP in July, in which he promises to improve conditions for African Americans.
Their goal, according to the head of the PAC, Dave Shemwell, is to communicate to African-American communities that it’s okay to consider switching political parties.
“You have no power when people take you for granted,” Shemwell told the Grio. “You only have power when people believe realistically that you’ll seek an alternative if they don’t come through.”
The people he’s referring to are Democratic politicians.
“Once [Obama] got into office, he didn’t pay any attention to the black community,” he said.
To make sure his message to African Americans would get across effectively, Shemwell partnered with Reverend Wayne Perryman, a local Black evangelical pastor in Washington. The author of Whites, Blacks & Racist Democrats and activist for Black issues echoed the same idea, calling the Black community “a forgotten race.”
“The Democrats take it for granted. They don’t put anything on the table, but they get our vote,” he said. “For all the votes they’re getting, they should have an agenda.”
