Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 04:18 pm
I don’t guess it should come as much of a surprise, but nevertheless I do find it entertaining that a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds Mitt Romney to be supported by 0 percent of African American voters. No, not 1 percent, or even 3 or 4.
Donut hole.
And then, when you factor in the margin of error, which is plus or minus 3.1 %, the rather surreal scenario suggests that the actual number of black folks who do not want Romney to be president is less than zero. I mean, no one ever expected to see any large percentage of African Americans going for the Republican candidate, especially when the incumbent Democrat is the nation’s first African American president. But that hollow echoing sound coming from that zero got me to thinking about that great song from the late Billy Preston, “Nothing from Nothing”:
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’
You gotta have somethin’
If you wanna be with me
Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’
You gotta have somethin’
If you wanna be with meI’m not tryin’ to be your hero
‘Cause that zero is too cold for me, brrr
I’m not tryin’ to be your highness
‘Cause that minus is too low to see, yeahNothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’
And I’m not stuffin’
Believe you me
Don’t you remember I told ya
I’m a soldier in the war on poverty, yeah
Yes, I amNothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’
You gotta have somethin’
If you wanna be with me
Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’
You gotta have somethin’
If you wanna be with meYou gotta have somethin’
If you wanna be with me
You gotta bring me somethin’ girl
If you wanna be with me
You feelin’ me?
Once again, like I said, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. And I sincerely doubt Romney gives much of damn that he isn’t embraced by the brothers, although there is a possibility this might cause a slight cringe of discomfort from his running mate Paul Ryan, who apparently stated in 2005 in an interview with Milwaukee Magazine that his college sweetheart was a black woman and that he also has a black sister-in-law. Perhaps this was an attempt to boost his street cred in the ‘hood. Then again, maybe it was just a simple statement of fact by Ryan to show that he, like fellow conservative Stephen Colbert, simply does not see race. He will gladly make life miserable for anyone who can’t afford his bright new vision of America$$$. Still, you gotta think he’s wondering how his addition to the Romney ticket couldn’t attract at least a couple. I mean can’t a white man get points for daring to spread his love across the color line?
Oh cruel, cruel fate.
Keith Owens (AKA Black Liberal Boomer) is a Detroit-based writer who has worked for The Detroit Free Press, Detroit’s alternative newsweekly the Metro Times, the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, and other newspapers. He was also a nationally syndicated columnist with Universal Press Syndicate for three years beginning in 1993.
