Presumptive Republican US presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ventured into the heart of US President Barack Obama’s support base on Wednesday, drawing loud boos from African-Americans when he vowed to repeal the president’s healthcare reforms.
Romney’s address to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the US’ oldest and largest civil rights group, was billed as a brave appeal to a voting demographic that overwhelmingly favors his opponent.
It was certainly a tough crowd and some cackled when Romney said: “If you want a president who will make things better in the -African-American community, you are looking at him.”
Polite applause for his pro-jobs pitch was accompanied by some raised eyebrows when he said Obama had left the economy “worse for African-Americans in almost every way.”
However, he ran into what was perhaps the most negative reaction to anything he has said on his year-long White House campaign when his pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act was met with loud and sustained boos.
“I think we expected that of course, but you know I’m going to give the same message to the NAACP that I give across the country,” Romney told Fox News hours later.
Blacks voted overwhelmingly for Obama over then-Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain in 2008, but with US unemployment above 8 percent for 41 straight months and a recent spike up to 14.4 percent jobless among blacks, Romney aims to win over disaffected voters.
The NAACP jeers exposed the uphill battle he faces in convincing minority voters he is the best man for the White House.
Wednesday marked a sensitive time for healthcare, with the Republican-led US House of Representatives voting to repeal the law, although the effort is almost certain to fail in the Democratic-led US Senate.
In his speech, Romney addressed the need to curb government spending.
“To do that, I’m going to eliminate every nonessential expensive program that I can find,” he said. “That includes Obamacare.”
Before he could finish his sentence, the boos rained down loudly, lasting more than 20 seconds.
While it was an awkward moment to be sure, it was also seen as courageous of the Republican to stand before a pro-Obama crowd and sell his political platform. Supporters took to Twitter to praise his determination.
However, NAACP president Benjamin Jealous said Romney’s repeal pledge showed a “fundamental misunderstanding of the needs of many African-Americans,” millions of whom stand to benefit from healthcare reform.
Romney said that Obama’s presidency, while historic, is leaving many black families behind.
“If equal opportunity in America were an accomplished fact, then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone,” he said. “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.”
Blacks are expected to back Obama in November, but the question in a neck-and-neck race is whether Romney can lure enough black voters to make a difference in swing states like Florida and North Carolina.
McCain won just 5 percent of the black vote, and Romney is aiming to bring the figure closer to the 11 percent that former US president George W. Bush won in 2004.
His NAACP address can be seen as an effort to make Romney, a multimillionaire ex-businessman with a reputation for not connecting with everyday voters, appear more attractive to a diverse electorate.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was