ACTUALLY.....It's been a few days now since Mitt Romney addressed the NAACP. He did the right thing (gosh I hate to admit that) by at least showing up. However, I'm still trying to figure out why Romney thought he could stand at that podium, with all his arrogance hanging out, and insist that he could do more for the black community as President of the U.S. than President Obama. Romney accused our President of not doing enough to help African-American families on everything from family policy to education to health care.
Romney went on to say that he was going to eliminate every non-essential, expensive program that he could find, which included Obamacare........what an ENORMOUS mistake that was. A NAACP board chairman, a health care expert, took issue with that remark. She said "it's not Obamacare. It's the law of the land. The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, and we want it to go forward". It seems impossible to me that he could stand there and attack the very program that most of his audience depended on. Obviously the crowd wasn't pleased with that remark! The boos erupted again when he said he would make a better President for the African-American community than President Obama.
He kept on about how he believed that his leadership would help families of color, more than anything Obama had done or will do. He accused Obama of failing to spark a more robust economic recovery. "I know the President said he will do those things. But he has not. He cannot. He will not." At that point the crowd's murmurs turned to groans. He vowed to put African-Americans back to work - but, he didn't say how.
Since that speech, Mitt Romney has had the audacity to call those who booed his remarks as "freeloaders". He has boasted about the boos saying "if they want more free stuff from the government, tell them to vote for the other guy". Incidentally, he supports voter ID laws that could disenfranchise 25% of African-Americans, as well as other less fortunate young people and seniors.
Does this man really qualify for the Presidency? Does he know that the office of the President of the United States of America includes all Americans regardless of race, creed or religion? I wonder?