Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s speech before the NAACP was good at articulating some of the problems in the African-American community, but it was long on generalities when it came to actually offering any solutions.
Romney doesn’t expect to win many African-American voters, 95 percent of whom backed President Barack Obama in 2008. His appearance at the NAACP convention was an attempt to show independent and swing voters that he is inclusive and willing to reach out to diverse audiences.
He knows he will get credit for simply showing up at a convention of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization.
Still, Romney received a polite reception when speaking before the group and only drew jeers when he lambasted Democrats’ policies and boos when he vowed to repeal “Obamacare,” the resident’s signature health-care overhaul law.
He even earned applause for his promise to create jobs and improve education.
Romney touted charter schools, and referred to his recent visit to local charter schools operated by Philadelphia businessman Kenny Gamble.
He vowed to help put Blacks back to work. He noted that the Labor Department’s jobs report for June showed the unemployment rate for Blacks at 14.4 percent, much higher than the 8.2 percent national average.
But he spoke in vague generalities on what he would do to create more jobs.
His economic plan consisted mainly of nothing more than government approval of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Texas coast and supporting the free enterprise system.
Romney was content to attack Obama, articulate the problems in the African-American community, and highlight his father, George Romney’s, personal connection to civil rights issues in the 1960s.
That is simply not good enough.
(Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune)
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