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.
You know, I didn’t think it was possible for me to be less enthusiastic for a nominee than I was for Romney. But besides the fact that the guy has so far been a vast improvement over McCain as a candidate, I just do not see how in the name of the Founders anyone could justify a course of action that even indirectly led to an Obama second term. I can not fathom that thought process. This country dies a little each day with Obama at the helm; after his second term the damage will be irreparable. How do you justify that in the name of principle?
Respectfully disagree with your divisive comments, even though you probably don’t see them that way.
There are about 40 million black Americans now--the NAACP and the media would have us believe that they are all lock-step in agreement with the left wing of the Democratic Party, apart from the rare Uncle Tom.
I used to play the organ in an inner city church. Your remark about the “organ stings” cracked me up!
Thank you for brightening my day a bit!
:-)
Because they have an agenda that does not involve reality.
They have this idea that if only we allow Obama to collapse the nation in the next 4 years, then only then will the electorate wake up to the need for the Conservative Messiah to arrive from the heavens and only then will we as a nation move to a course correction.
To say this idea is delusional and insane is being nice about it.
Black conservatives would not go to the NAACP, thats equivalent to walking into the middle of a gang showdown with a plastic sword.
"The unemployment rate, the duration of unemployment, average income and median family wealth are all worse for the black community.”
The above truths reflect that the majority of blacks don't really want to work and/or they're flat-out racist for supporting 0bama.
Telling it like it is from the blacks’ perspective. You are right, I don’t see my previous comment ‘divisive’.
I would have brought a copy of Obamacare. And when the crowd booed over repealing it, I'd have slammed the 7 pounds of paper down on the podium. And when the "thunk!" sound silenced the crowd I would quietly say:
"Here it is. This is Obamacare. Nancy Pilosi told us we had to vote for it to see whats in it. Well now we know. Its 21 new taxes. It is IRS forms, limited doctors, and death panels. It will guarantee longer waits, decline in quality and less control over your care. And the most frightening thing about it is, its not even complete. It has many sections that have not even been written yet. Thats hundreds maybe thousands more pages to come. We know 80% of doctors that have read it, are considering leaving the medical field completely. This is not the answer. You deserve better. We can repeal this nightmare and allow America's doctors and hospitals to do what they do best, provide the most advanced and comprehensive health care in the world."
Mitt’s doing a lot better than McCain that’s for sure. WHAT WERE WE THINKING with McCain??? Anyhoo, I hope the VP pick is a home run.
Obama has pushed us to the brink of a race war. How can that possibly benefit blacks? I was not racist when I was a young man, but if we are going to be continuously attacked just because we are white, then bring it, I say, and lets get it over with.
If 92% of blacks really do still support Obama, then those are effectively brain dead anyway. People who want to work, be free, and not be taxed to death, and are proud of the productive job skills they have acquired during their life do not want Obama. So 92% of blacks want none of those things.
You need to offer Romney your services! That would have been very effective. In fact, Romney needs to come on FR and learn!
Yeah, where’s the Messiah? He’s sending Vanilla White Joe Biden in his place...
Many think that there will be a conservative messiah the same way the left has Obama.
we dont need and shouldnt want a messiah, we need to get obama out and start trying to walk the USA off the fiscal ledge we are facing.
It’s not pandering if you don’t tell them what they want to hear.
I totally agree-was really surprised at Rush’s response-he’s so gloomy these days.
If Romney pulls in 10% of the black vote, then he likely wins.
yeh- by a landslide....
Sorry, but I have to disagree. In large part, blacks are at the bottom of the economic ladder and are bound to suffer the most in a recession. And I think Mitt hit on the reason today - education. Blacks have been so manipulated by the democrats that they, in large part, just accept the lousy education provided by government schools staffed by union members. But many blacks are waking up and demanding educational choice.
Education is like money - it may not buy happiness, but it sure increases your options. If you've been handed a dipolma without learning to read and write, your employment choices are really limited. Hell, to start your own business without running afoul of regulations you practically need a law degree. If you only read at a 6th grade level, you are screwed.
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