Posted on 07/11/2012 2:02:47 PM PDT by Kaslin
GOP Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney just wrapped up his speech to the NAACP convention in Houston, focusing mostly on the economy and education reform. Right out of the gate, Romney received laughs from the crowd after cracking a joke about President Obama.
“I appreciate the chance to speak first – even before Vice President Biden gets his turn tomorrow. I just hope the Obama campaign won’t think you’re playing favorites."
Romney framed his speech in general economic terms and tailored parts of it specifically to the African-American community. He focused on the family and defended traditional marriage, which received applause. President Obama supports same-sex marriage.
“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. 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. Our society sends them into mediocre schools and expects them to perform with excellence, and that is not fair. Frederick Douglass observed that, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Yet, instead of preparing these children for life, too many schools set them up for failure. Everyone in this room knows that we owe them better than that.“I’m hopeful that together we can set a new direction in federal policy, starting where many of our problems do – with the family. A study from the Brookings Institution has shown that for those who graduate from high school, get a full-time job, and wait until 21 before they marry and then have their first child, the probability of being poor is two percent. And if those factors are absent, the probability of being poor is 76 percent.
"Here at the NAACP, you understand the deep and lasting difference the family makes. Your former executive director, Dr. Benjamin Hooks, had it exactly right. The family, he said, “remains the bulwark and the mainstay of the black community. That great truth must not be overlooked.”
"Any policy that lifts up and honors the family is going to be good for the country, and that must be our goal. As President, I will promote strong families – and I will defend traditional marriage."
"As you may have heard from my opponent, I am also a believer in the free-enterprise system. I believe it can bring change where so many well-meaning government programs have failed. I’ve never heard anyone look around an impoverished neighborhood and say, “You know, there’s too much free enterprise around here. Too many shops, too many jobs, too many people putting money in the bank.”
What you hear, of course, is how do we bring in jobs? How do we make good, honest employers want to move in and stay? And with the shape this economy is in, we’re asking that more than ever.
Free enterprise is still the greatest force for upward mobility, economic security, and the expansion of the middle class. We have seen in recent years what it’s like to have less free enterprise. As President, I will show the good things that can happen when we have more – more business activity, more jobs, more opportunity, more paychecks, more savings accounts.
Romney also addressed the importance of being at the NAACP convention, despite 95 percent of blacks voting for Obama in 2008.
“With 90 percent of African-Americans voting for Democrats, some of you may wonder why a Republican would bother to campaign in the African American community, and to address the NAACP. Of course, one reason is that I hope to represent all Americans, of every race, creed or sexual orientation, from the poorest to the richest and everyone in between.But there is another reason: 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. 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,” Romney said. “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. 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 also offered the audience new information he hasn’t publicly touted, his father George Romney, was a strong supporter of the Civil Rights movement.
Yet always, in both parties, there have been men and women of integrity, decency, and humility who called injustice by its name. For every one of us a particular person comes to mind, someone who set a standard of conduct and made us better by their example. For me, that man is my father, George Romney.It wasn’t just that my Dad helped write the civil rights provision for the Michigan Constitution, though he did. It wasn’t just that he helped create Michigan’s first civil rights commission, or that as governor he marched for civil rights in Detroit – though he did those things, too.
More than these public acts, it was the kind of man he was, and the way he dealt with every person, black or white. He was a man of the fairest instincts, and a man of faith who knew that every person was a child of God.
Romney’s speech made it clear he wasn't at the NAACP convention to pander or preach at the audience. He simply presented a slew of facts and straight talk. Some topics he touched on, like repealing ObamaCare, received boos, but overall Romney received applause throughout his speech and it was reported by NBC that many in the audience gave Romney standing applause at the end of his remarks. It was clear he had a positive impact although the media will choose to focus only on the opposition to his remarks.
Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cleaver said Romney should not have criticized President Obama in front of a black audience but dispproved of audience booing.
You can watch the entire speech here.
He wasn’t pandering. He told them exactly what he intended to do, despite what response he might get.
It’s ironic that the party of slavery and segregation, the Democrats, depend on black people to get elected.
If so, then how do you explain such splendid American thinkers as Frederick Douglas; George Washington Carver; the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr,; Associate Justice Clarence Thomas; Thomas Sowell; Walter Williams; Herman Cain; Congressman Allen West; the list goes ON....
I REFUSE the be a "racist," in acknowledging the amazing and irreplaceable achievements of men of this intellectual caliber, and their invaluable contributions to the American self-understanding.
To me, they are all "indispensable public men." I give thanks to God that they exist, or existed.
What a great post
btt
You are right on the money. Black Americans are adrift at sea, and...will remain so for decades to come!!! Until they wise up and get real and come to grips that Obama, the Democrat Party the NAACP and the CBC are not their friends, allies or supporters, just users and abusers of their own race. Folks, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink!!!
Mitt Romney gave a great speech today at the NAACP convention. Honest, truthful and heartfelt!!! Too bad these Black folks don;t have a clue as to how they are ripped off, held down and destroyed by the own kind, starting with Obama, the NAACP and CBC!!! Dummies to the core!!!
I take it you did not watch the speech?
He got a standing ovation because he did not pander or water anything down for them. He addressed them like a leader does and quite frankly, compared to race and class warfare from obama the last 4 years, it was very refreshing to watch.
“...to tell a family secret, my grandmother was Dutch...”
Bart
Appointed Sheriff of Rock Ridge
“...Last time they voted their race....”
Well...it WAS understandable if you think about it. He’s a homeboy (they think), and it was historic for them.
Disastrous for the country overall...but given the choice between Juan McCain and a Brutha, in a reality, where else would they have voted?
At any rate, yeah...I hope you are correct about the pocketbook/wallet.
“I watched his speech and it was not pandering at all. It was sober, mature, serious, and well delivered.”
In other words, not yours, he did a very good job of lying. Something Romney is very good at. He is actually a better liar than Obama. Both are equally worthless though.
I REALLY wished people would stop posting pro-Romney propaganda on FR. Romney is not a conservative anymore than Obama is. He does not deserve conservative support, even to oust Obama. Whether Obama stays is office and continues to harm America, or we put the magic mormon in office and he harms America as well, but destroys any chance the GOP ever has of getting a true conservative in the POTUS chair at a future time.
Even with that, I'm sorry, those weren't boos, those were "no's" and dissapointed jeers. As a sports fan, I know what real boos are.
Not bad except for this:
““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. Instead, for generations, the African-American community has been waiting and waiting for that promise to be kept.”
This is nothing but an excuse. I went to the poorest schools that can be imagined. Some were downright laughable. We learned though because we were expected to learn and had good parents who helped us.
The schools these black children go to are crummy because the parents are crummy. The children don’t learn because they aren’t sent and expected to learn and to behave. Instead they act like and are thugs. Their failure is their own fault. It has been a choice made without serious enough consequences.
We have spent trillions and given every advantage and preference possible and still they do poorly as a whole. Romney just supported their excuses for failure, poverty, thuggery and dependence.
The answer to the problem is not more money or more opportunity. The answer is to see failures that put the fear of God in them not to fail.
I agree! Kudo’s for even going in there. It took guts and was done well.
Exactamundo.
To Jack Deth,
I agree nearly 100 percent with your post. Romney stood his ground, didn’t cower because of the booing, and he showed a lot of class. Moreover, he was spot on with his responses to the crowds reactions. He is 1000 percent better than John McCain, and we screwed up big time by not electing as the presidential candidate in the 2008 primaries. A pox on all of you who would damn him because of his religon. At least we know what his faith is...who the hell knows what church Obama embaces.....in spite of his promise to be the the most open and honest president ever. Yeah.....right. Anyway.....I don’t give a damn about the faith of our president....I just want one who will give us less government, less interference, reduced spending, more openness, more jobs, and less BS.
Care to point out which part(s) involved pandering?
Romney is the “ presumptive Republican candidate” (in quotation marks because I quoted Romney), not a conservative candidate.
He presented his views, and was politely received by a specific issues group that invited him to speak at their convention.
Can only imagine the crap McCain would have pulled too.
Of course the participation and communication of parents and teachers is important
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