Mitt Romney was greeted with boos today at the NAACP‘s annual meeting in Houston when he pledged to repeal Obamacare and again when criticized President Barack Obama.
“I’m going to eliminate every non-essential, expensive program I can find. That includes Obamacare, and I’m going to work to reform and save — ” Romney said, being interrupted by boos. He stood motionless for about 15 seconds.
The GOP presumptive presidential nominee did receive polite applause at several points (and even got a brief standing ovation at the end). But he was interrupted again when he criticized Obama’s record on the economy.
“I know the president has said he will do those things. But he has not. He cannot. He will not. And his last four years in the White House prove it definitively,” Romney said as the crowd’s murmurs turned to loud jeers.
“If you want a president who will make things better in the African-American community, you are looking at him,” Romney shot back. You take a look.”
It could’ve been much worse. For example, Romney didn’t even mention voter ID laws he supports that could disenfranchise about 25% of African-American voters. And he didn’t mention his “let Detroit go bankrupt” opposition to the auto rescue. Romney is not likely to win much of the black vote. Some 95 percent of black voters backed Obama in 2008. “You’ve got to get credit for showing up — for being willing to go — no question,” Karen Finney, a Democratic consultant who worked in the Clinton White House, told the Associated Press. “It’s more about your actions than it is about what you say.” Ed will have more reaction to the Romney’s speech tonight on The Ed Show at 8pET on msnbc with Hilary Shelton, the NAACP’s Washington bureau director and its senior vice president for policy and advocacy, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (D).
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