Posted on 07/11/2012 8:19:58 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Romney to NAACP: Obama made it worse for you 'in almost every way' By Jonathan Easley - 07/11/12 10:01 AM ET
Mitt Romney will tell the NAACP on Wednesday that President Obama has made it worse for African-Americans “in almost every way.”
“If equal opportunity in America were an accomplished fact, then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone,” Romney will say, according to prepared remarks provided by his campaign. “Instead, it’s worse for African-Americans in almost every way. The unemployment rate, the duration of unemployment, average income and median family wealth are all worse for the black community.”
While Obama leads Romney 92 percent to 2 among black voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday, Romney hopes his economic pitch will resonate with a group that has been disproportionately affected by the economic downturn. He's made a similar appeal to other voting blocs, such as Hispanics and women.
Romney will acknowledge the historic nature of Obama’s 2008 campaign, in which he became the country’s first black president, but will also make the case for his own candidacy.
"I believe that if you understood who I truly am in my heart, and if it were possible to fully communicate what I believe is in the real, enduring best interest of African-American families, you would vote for me for president," the presumptive GOP nominee will say. "I want you to know that if I did not believe that my policies and my leadership would help families of color — and families of any color — more than the policies and leadership of President Obama, I would not be running for president."
He also will make the argument that Obama’s economic policies are creating similar barriers to those that civil rights activists fought hard to remove.
“If someone had told us in the 1950s or '60s that a black citizen would serve as the 44th president, we would have been proud and many would have been surprised,” Romney will say. “Picturing that day, we might have assumed that the American presidency would be the very last door of opportunity to be opened. Before that came to pass, every other barrier on the path to equal opportunity would surely have to come down.
“Of course, it hasn’t happened quite that way. Many barriers remain. Old inequities persist. In some ways, the challenges are even more complicated than before. And across America — and even within your own ranks — there are serious, honest debates about the way forward.”
The former Massachusetts governor will cite unemployment among African-Americans, which at 14.4 percent is well above the national average of 8.2.
“I am running for president because I know that my policies and vision will help hundreds of millions of middle-class Americans of all races, will lift people from poverty, and will help prevent people from becoming poor,” Romney will say. “My campaign is about helping the people who need help. The course the president has set has not done that — and will not do that. My course will.”
Romney will also focus on education, which earlier in the primary season he referred to as “the civil rights issue of our era.” Romney says he will “give the parents of every low-income and special-needs student the chance to choose where their child goes to school,” and will link federal education funds to the student, which he says will open the opportunity for children of poor families to attend charter and private schools.
“If equal opportunity in America were an accomplished fact, black families could send their sons and daughters to public schools that truly offer the hope of a better life,” Romney will say. “Instead, for generations, the African-American community has been waiting and waiting for that promise to be kept. Today, black children are 17 percent of students nationwide — but they are 42 percent of the students in our worst-performing schools.”
Obama will not address the NAACP convention this year, but Vice President Biden is scheduled to speak on Thursday.
I listened to most of his speech. It was actually pretty good.
what was the reaction from the audience??? glad to see someone at least attempt to tell the truth....
Its a start.
He should add:
education system fails them because unions are more important
they abort them because Planned Parenthood money is more important
they keep you on welfare so you can’t progress upward
He really should ask at the end “it seems more like a policy that the KKK would enact.
About what you would expect. Booed when he mentioned Obamacare. But he made some good points about jobs and schools. I don’t think he had anything to lose by addressing them and may actually have made some think about how bad Obama has been for them.
If he panders to them, he will get excoriated.
If he tells them the truth, he will get excoriated even more and, depending on the severity of the truth, possibly even booed off the stage.
This is the black version of the KKK. He would have been wiser to have spoken to CORE, what the NAACP used to be.
Except for the boos when he mentioned getting rid of Obamacare, the audience was respectful and he received more applause than I thought he would.
Naturally the Etch a Sketch guy comes across with false promises and pandering.
The truth is that “African-Americans” have a crime, scholastic and single parenting problem. They also have a Stockholm Syndrome issue that they are adamantly opposed to addressing through the ballot box.
I am referring to about all but 10 or 12 % of TBP-(Total Black Population)
Romney is done.
Mittens showed a lot of balls today.
Kudos to him for today.
It was a decent speech. Not game-changing, but decent. He actually gave a fairly creditable defense of why free enterprise is the best way to create jobs. He was booed considerably when he repeated his mantra about repealing Obamacare, but got some support when the went through his educational policies (charter schools, parental choice, etc.).
I doubt he changed many minds in the room. Those predisposed to like him probably came away a bit more enthusiastic. Those who merely hate him on the basis that he is a rich white guy, probably still hate him.
Best part of the speech was the way the last parts of it were punctuated with organ stings. I bet that was a first for him.
I don’t get why politicians think they have to pander to groups like this.
His citing the CoC report that 87%(?) of the small business would stop hiring shut that crowd up for the rest of his speech.
yep.....
Only 92%, eh? Wow, Obama really IS lagging from 2008.
NAACP's ultimate response to Romney, "Shut up, Cracker!"
Organ stings?
I gotta give him credit for having the courage to speak to this group. I wouldn’t bother. He didn’t have much to lose though, 2% and the rest are set against him.
Which means the tax base would shrink.. less $ for government programs. That DID get their attention!
Eventually someone will speak up to this wing of the Democrat Party and tell them off. Mitt's not the guy to do that.
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