As I said since the end of last year, I will dedicate at least one blog a month to the effect that President Obama has had and what it has meant and will mean to this race and the country. I was just watching Election Night coverage of the states voting today and I heard something very interesting, which is also very troubling. Some folks down in the South have no idea who Bernie Sanders is and that’s just a shame.

I don’t pretend that he’s a candidate who’s perfect, but I will say that he may be a better candidate for the Black Community than Hillary Clinton, much to the dismay of those famous celebrities and regular Americans who believe she is the one. Mayor Bill Be Blasio of New York, said something very interesting in the segment before the one I watched. He said that the modern day Democrat is now a Social Democrat or a Democratic Socialist. Meaning, we’re a lot more like Bernie Sanders than we are Hillary Clinton, we just don’t like to admit it.

President Obama has set the bar as high as you can for the next Democratic President because of his policies that he’s been able to get passed through Congress. He has helped to lift the country into economic strength. He has done a very strong job of leading us out of the Empire America and back to the leader America. He has forced all of the candidates to shift their positions based on his actions, decisions and agenda. That’s why Clinton must say she is for Gay Marriage, that’s why Sanders must say he wants to extend the benefits of Obamacare.

The Obama coalition was one that had never been seen really before in Democratic circles. He gathered young people, black people, white women, women, older folks and educated folks and turned that into one hell of a base. Think that didn’t stick in folks mind? Bernie Sanders tried to do the same thing this cycle, only problem is… He’s not Black and people don’t really know who he is. Maybe if he would have given a speech to the magnitude of President Obama at the DNC in 2004, maybe we would be talking about Sanders possibly being Obama 2.0.

I still make a plea to Black people to not just hand your vote to Hillary Clinton because she is the wife of former President Bill Clinton, who was favorable to Black people. Do your research, read about the candidates and make an informed decision. If not you will just take away the power we have. And then we bitch about not being involved enough in the process. It’s because we don’t wanna read, we don’t wanna participate and don’t wanna be informed. Put it all together and you got Black people falling short.

If we learn nothing else from the Obama effect, it’s that we must build a strong coalition. We must do our homework and we gotta find a way to stick together. Otherwise, we will continue to fall by the wayside of opportunity.