[WardFive] Why President Obama endorsed Muriel Bowser

Why President Obama endorsed Muriel Bowser

By Nia-Malika Henderson October 6

 

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 6: Mayoral candidate Muriel Bowser delivers remarks

during a town hall session for voters is southeast, on September, 06, 2014 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

For President Obama, endorsing Muriel E. Bowser for D.C. mayor was an easy one.

There is no apparent downside for Obama and only upside for Bowser in a race against independent city councilman David Catania that is closer than expected. Nabbing an Obama endorsement will likely help her with black women voters who will power the overall black vote. And given that there are very few conservative voters in D.C., Obama isn't alienating anyone who might otherwise vote Bowser.

But there is also some upside for Obama, who called Bowser a "passionate proponent of Washington, D.C." in his endorsement statement. That's because Obama, along with his wife, has also framed himself as a "passionate proponent of Washington, D.C."

Early on, Michelle Obama talked about the White House as "the people's house" -- a place she wanted to open up to local school kids who probably felt very far removed from the place. She also visited local schools and held small discussions with students, telling them her story could be their story.

For his part, President Obama visited Ben's Chili Bowl and has stopped off at the occasional bookstore and burger joint. When he unveiled part of his My Brother's Keeper initiative, he chose Southeast D.C.

The Post's Clinton Yates, though, has written about how Obama hasn't really shown up in D.C. in any real way, and Marc H. Morial, who leads the National Urban League, has said that cities remain left behind under Obama.

But symbolically, Obama came to office as the first urban president, promising to be a champion of big cities. He ran as a "community organizer," and he opened the White House Office of Urban Affairs once he was in office.

Here he was in the summer of 2009, pitching the stimulus as especially beneficial to big cities:

We need to do more than help our cities weather this economic storm. We need to rebuild them on newer, firmer, stronger foundation for our future. That requires a new strategy for our cities and metropolitan areas that focuses on advancing opportunity through competitive, sustainable and inclusive growth.

In endorsing Bowser, Obama is nodding to his approach to and passion for urban America, where much of the Obama coalition lives. He is also nodding to the up-and-coming generation of big-city politicians who stand apart from the bad old days of political patronage and race politics and are very much in the Obama tradition.

The president won't stand next to many politicians this year -- nor do many in the closest races want him to -- but in standing next to Bowser, Obama is symbolically endorsing urban America and highlighting the centrality of an urban agenda.

And in Bowser, a black woman, he sees a key component of the Obama coalition.