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, its 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 Obamas 2008 campaign, in which he became the countrys 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 Obamas 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 hasnt 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.
So, let’s suggest to Romney that he speak at CORE as well...if we have ideas, we should shoot them over to Romney’s camp...check his website for link and phone #.
So, let’s suggest to Romney that he speak at CORE as well...if we have ideas, we should shoot them over to Romney’s camp...check his website for link and phone #.
They booed him for his stance on ObamaCare.
Black people still love them chains.
Sorry, but that estimate is waaaaaay off.
Should read "I am referring to about all but 5 or 6 % of TBP-(Total Black Population)"
I a serious Mittster Skeptic, but he did himself, the Black Community and the Country a favor today by laying the blame for worsening conditions among blacks at 0bama’s feet.
That’s true. It’s an inconvenient and uncomfortable fact that the black attendees know full well.
Points for Mittster on facing the maw of the beast and telling the truth.
Now, if only he would disavow his monstrous Romney0bamaCare, I could support him with a few reservations. Until then, his own record refutes his words and promises.
I will "probably" vote for Romney and it would be the first time I've voted for a democrat since I was 18 and voted for Carter (cuz all the chicks were doing it and the only republicans I knew were my parents) Yeah, I look at Romney as a moderate democrat - he's certainly not a conservative - he can't even say the word. The GOP-e ruined this election.
They booed.
The NAACP is a relic trying to fight against its own inertia and obsolescence, quite similar to the plight of the labor unions.
Yes they have. I wanted Sarah to run and was hoping Cain would win. I ultimately voted for Ron Paul in the NYS primary since he was one of the few left by the time it came to my state.
But for me, this election is solely about ousting obama. I have no illusions whatsoever about romney and am prepared to have to fight him tooth and nail on many things.
He has to go.
There has never been such a malignant force for communism in the WH like we have with obama.
This is what Romney needs to do...effectively communicate his ideas. The democrat -media complex will try to distract his campaign and the voters with lies and phony scandal mongering. Unfortunately, he will have to be prepared to commit precious resources to respond that too.
Didn’t think I’d say this, but I’m actually proud of Romney for going and taking a stand. Even a minimal stand.
So, after a long and circuitrous tour of the Dem Plantation, Blacks are finally getting back to 1967, when Education, (not 'cultural studies', but a genuine education) was seen as the key to improving one's lot in life, and focused upon as the tool which was most essential to success.
What a long, strange trip it's been.
Unfortunately, along the way, a large part of a couple of generations has been pandered to, buttered up and bamboozled into thinking they either do not need that education or that they have it, when in fact, their entire fields of study primarily exist to produce and add academic credibility (well, certification) to Marxist nonsense.
The 'Great Society' and the War on Poverty have been going on since LBJ, and if anything, things are worse.
Romney gets three thumbs up for that one.
Lefties complaining Romney was being deliberately racist for saying bad things about obamacare.
“Obama made it worse for you ‘in almost every way’ so now you can apply for even MORE entitlements, YEAH!!!!!” is what the audience would’ve preferred I guess.
DING DING DING!!! We have a WINNER! This applies especially to minorities in the NORTH (the South not so much)
I’m not surprised you haven’t gotten a response from atc23. His premise is absurd. The talk was excellent and your summary is spot on. Romney actually sounded Reaganesque.
When you’re speaking to a bunch of race mongers you’re on enemy territory. He walked the minefield by telling the truth and sticking to the facts. If Romney brings the fight hard to black voters he may turn enough back into Republicans. That would be great.
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