"Take Detroit out of the statewide totals for both candidates...

To be sure, most people in Detroit will vote for a Democrat, as they have for decades."

These statements indicate an unaltered view from eras such as the "Jim Crow" era.  Perhaps any people who have been through a holocaust or genocide, as the black folk have, would have (understandably) this view.  

It must be true that most people in Detroit believe that the Federal Government is their savior and that the State will not be able or willing to protect them if needed.  Perhaps this is the real (underlying) issue that needs to be addresses aggressively via a public dialog/campaign. It can be compared to the Jewish vote that appears to think that all Christian's are the problem based on the back stabbing in Europe during the WWII era (and others).

There is much experience, handlers, speech writers, scholars, think tanks, Senior Fellow's of institutions of learning, and I'm not seeing that all these resources have equipped our elected official (or anyone else) to develop an intelligent dialog about these problems. The black folk are still heard saying that the conservatives are not reaching out or are not listening. If one thinks they are reaching out and listening, but still being told they're not, this can be frustrating.  Frustration doesn't get you anywhere though. It would seem that with all these resources we would come up with a way to successfully be approaching this. Very insignificant in this.  

That there (still) isn't a sustained dialog going on to address these concerns and problems strikes me as acting out from fear.  Just as the above vote indicates an underlying fear so this lack of addressing this is an underlying fear.  Perhaps a fear of offending.  Hey, the offence has already happened and is "taken."  Nothing to change there.  Those issues must be fully acknowledged and embraced.  How can one ask someone to ask themselves if the thinking, fears, opinions, they have are current, effective, and apply?  Perhaps it starts with addressing the underlying perceptions, fears, and beliefs.  I can't believe this isn't being done, can't be done, successfully.

So often I see avoidance of the issues and I assume it's due a great discomfort because some of the details are so ugly.  Like immigration.  A fear of offending.  This isn't helping and it doesn't alleviate the problem.  Agreeing with something that's in error in order to avoid offending is circular reasoning in these areas. So, here we are. Again. Still. Surely there's nothing wrong with looking at ourselves and recognizing there's a lot of untapped creativity out there.

Part of the problem seems to be a lack of connecting the dots, on all sides.  Perhaps due the fear thing.  Conservatives don't where the "state" versus "smaller government" and "I thought you wanted to be free."  Free at last was provided by the Feds coming in and providing life saving measures and access.  Larger government would appear to be better then allowing some states to have their way.

Perhaps a change of focus.  Asking why we should wait on a Federal Government that takes hundreds of years to come to our rescue might be helpful.  On the other hand, insisting that the states should retain more power is proven scary...power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Shouldn't we focus on whom we can really rely and on whom the power should be retained?  Me and you...sort of like "we the people" and all that.  

A message of "give power to the states" isn't appropriate when one is really trying to get power to the people.  Obviously, the disconnect, misunderstandings, fears...continue to obscure.