CNN’s Abby Phillip swung by The Breakfast Club radio show on Tuesday to promote her book about Jesse Jackson and at one point argued that it’s a known fact that many voters and “especially white voters” apply a higher standard to black candidates. Phillip provided no evidence for her accusation.
Co-host Loren Lorasa led Phillip by wondering how Jackson’s failure to become president in the 80s impacted people like former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris, “How would all of that be different if he had been able to get in office and do what he was doing before he was voted president or not voted president?”
Phillip replied, “It’s really interesting. It’s such an interesting question. I mean, I think one of the reasons that Vice President Harris and Barack Obama have had to present a certain way to the American public is the perception that a broad swath of the electorate, especially white voters, won’t take a black candidate seriously unless they are very buttoned up, have the resume all lined up, the whole thing. And that’s accurate, right? That, like, we all understand that you kind of have to clear a higher bar in order to even be let in the door.”
Obama managed to become president despite having one of the thinnest resumes of any presidential candidate in recent history, so, no, we don’t all accept the premise that the electorate has some racial bias against black candidates.
As it was, Phillip continued, “And I do wonder if the country had successfully elected a black president who was running on a progressive platform 30 years ago, whether they would have that same burden.”
Why just a progressive platform? If black progressives are having a hard time getting elected, the problems are the progressivism and news anchors who keep trying to accuse viewers of racism for not going along.
Here is a transcript for the October 28 show:
The Breakfast Club
10/28/2025
LOREN LOROSA: How would all of that be different if he had been able to get in office and do what he was doing before he was voted president or not voted president?
ABBY PHILLIP: It’s really interesting. It’s such an interesting question. I mean, I think one of the reasons that Vice President Harris and Barack Obama have had to present a certain way to the American public is the perception that a broad swath of the electorate, especially white voters, won’t take a black candidate seriously unless they are very buttoned up, have the resume all lined up, the whole thing. And that’s accurate, right? That, like, we all understand that you kind of have to clear a higher bar in order to even be let in the door. And I do wonder if the country had successfully elected a black president who was running on a progressive platform 30 years ago, whether they would have that same burden.
