(ConservativeCore.com)- Former President Barack Obama last week paid tribute to South Carolina Democrat Edith Childs who retired after serving 24 years on the Greenwood County Council.
In a video released by the Obama Foundation, the former president credited Childs with the campaign chant that epitomized Obama’s campaign, “Fired up, ready to go.”
According to Obama, during a 2007 campaign stop in Greenwood, South Carolina, Childs led the small crowd in the back-and-forth chant. Obama said Childs embodies “leadership,” “inspiration,” and “power.”
Childs told the Associated Press that the phrase, which the Obama campaign adopted for T-shirts and other campaign swag, came from early NAACP voter registration drives. She said participants would say it to remind themselves that they had to stay fired up and “prepared for whatever confronts you.”
During the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Childs led the delegates in the chant. Since then, the NAACP chant has been used by South Carolina Democrat politicians to fire up crowds at rallies.
In the 2020 Democrat primaries, billionaire Tom Steyer adopted the phrase while running in the South Carolina primary. Steyer also ran a TV ad featuring Childs’ endorsement of his campaign.
Childs told the Associated Press that she was willing to meet up with Democrat candidates who may want her to come use the chant for them when they campaign in South Carolina in the 2024 presidential election.
Last month, the Democratic National Committee ratified President Biden’s request to make South Carolina the first-in-the-nation Democrat primary, supplanting New Hampshire in the 2024 primary schedule.
The Democrat primary will now begin with South Carolina, with Michigan and possibly Georgia joining early primary states. The New Hampshire Democrat primary would be moved to the same day as Nevada, provided the Republican-controlled legislature and Republican governor agree to change state law. Moving the Georgia Democrat primary would also require the support of the Republican-led legislature and governor.
