Governor Romney Speaks the the NAACP

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney addresses the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) annual convention in Houston, TX on Wednesday, July 11.  Here is what Mr. Romney should say (or should have said):

Greetings to my fellow American citizens.  Thank you, Chairman [Roslyn M.] Brock and President [Benjamin Todd] Jealous-- to the NAACP Board, and to all of you for the invitation to speak and for welcoming me here on a hot summer day in the great City of Houston where "global warming" is nothing to fear, but is actually a way-of-life.  Nobody has ever accused me of being cool, except for with respect to the heat of this election season.

And I also want to give my thanks to the many, many corporate sponsors of the NAACP and this convention; I see we do have a great deal in common, after all.

The theme of this gathering is "Your Power, Your Decision, Your Vote."  And I would like to just take a few minutes on "your power" and "your decision," before concluding and asking you for your vote.

Like all Americans, but particularly for Americans of color, your power has been severely diminished by the sitting US President and the policies and actions of his administration.

Whether it's the power of holding a job or finding a new job, or the power of expanding your business by getting a loan, or the power of owning your home, or the power of sending your child to a school that teaches-- the day-to-day things that empower all people of color and all people of liberty-- all that power is gone for now.  You see it, you feel it, and you know it.

Yet, there are some in this audience who will argue with me, saying they never experienced that power in the first place, or that the people they serve in our communities and inner-city neighborhoods only dream about having the kinds of problems I just talked about.  There are some who will never believe that a Republican will restore the power they have never really had-- because generations of Democrats that they so urgently believed in until now, have actually taken the power away.

Don't take my word for it.  Look around your neighborhoods and cities, the boarded-up businesses, crime in the streets, people idled by an economic crisis they did not create, with no end in sight after four years under an inexperienced President who has not understood that "government power" is not the same as "people power."

We have a vast and powerful government to be sure.  When the economic crisis began in 2008, the critical emergency response of government was to assure liquidity and credit for the financial system.  It did so swiftly and forcefully, and I don't know anyone who believes it was a mistake for the government to act.

But everything else that followed-- the stimulus, the bail-outs of specific companies, the passing of mandatory health insurance, the heavy subsidies to unproven energy companies with political clout-- are not just matters for debate and discussion, they are really just about taking power out of your hands, and giving it to Washington functionaries.

But I am personally angry with the sitting President because I believe he squandered money and opportunity by making bad policies.  It's way too easy for me to list the things I would not do as President.  So here are a few things I will do instead, that will put power back where it belongs-- in our cities and among our people:

[INSERT SPECIFIC PROMISES HERE]

So as never before in our lifetimes, your power, and the power of all America's citizens, is exactly and really the only thing, bottom-line, that this election is all about.  If you want power returned to your communities and businesses to rebuild your cities and restore your dreams, your decision will be to vote for me.

Yet while I happen to think your decision is simple, I know it's complicated by powerful symbols and old-school allegiances that are hard to relinquish.  It can't be an easy decision for many in the NAACP.  It may be the first time you have voted for a Republican.  There will be pressure to show support and loyalty for the first African-American US President, even if his policies have failed and failed African-Americans the most.

And then, there's the unfairness of it all.  Those who have been fortunate, such as myself and other "one-percenters," can actually afford the economic disaster we have under this President.  We don't like it, but unlike most Americans, the rich can suffer through and go on as we have, mostly unhurt by his policies.

Yet to middle-income earners, the working poor, and the poor poor, on the other hand, his policies and job-killing tax programs have been ruthlessly cruel.

Instead, rich people can afford to oppose the President's policies on moral grounds, saying as we do, that we're sincerely afraid the "American Way of Life" is at stake. But if you've never experienced the "American Way of Life" as the so-called "well-off" have, it's a damn meaningless argument-- and probably why Republican candidates have not won support from people of color, except from those among you who have succeeded economically.

So when the President talks as he does so often about "basic fairness," I wonder who he is talking about.  I know he's not talking about me.  But is he really talking about you?

Does anyone here believe that raising taxes to pay for the same Washington-led failed programs is more fair than cutting taxes on small businesses and creating jobs, or using block-grants instead of bureaucracies to solve local problems?

Is the President talking about your communities when he says those making over $250,000 a year should pay more taxes?  Does anyone here believe they will see that money, other than as it leaves your city and the person who earned it has to let an employee go?

Does anyone believe that taking a dollar out of Chicago or Queens, NY or East LA, or New Orleans and sending it to the bureaucracy in Washington is more fair to the people of Chicago, New York, LA or New Orleans than keeping the money home and creating jobs?

When the President talks about "basic fairness" in our upcoming debates, believe me, I will too.

Your decision is about who gets your power.  Make no mistake, it is not your vote that's at stake, it's your power.  And it's not just "black power" that's at stake in this election, the power of all citizens is pitted against the machinery of bureaucracy and bloated, dysfunctional government.  At this moment of crisis for our country, where the balance of power can be seen as having reached a "tipping point" after which the government becomes a ruling class of its own-- there can be no black and white, no rich and poor; our struggle is joined.

On the other hand, if you still believe your power belongs in Washington, is safer and better-off in Washington, the sitting President will take your vote, your money, and your power so you can come see it at rallies on the Mall and your children can visit it along with all the other monuments in Washington.

It's your power, it's your decision.

So in asking you for your vote, I humbly offer this suggestion: If government power has helped you, has strengthened you, has protected you, has supported your family-- Ask yourself, why is it you still don't feel powerful?

And if you believe-- after thinking about "your power" and "your decision" throughout this convention and when you return home-- that government has exceeded its ability to help our cities and our neighborhoods because through its excessive policies and regulations and mandates, it limits the ability of your friends and families and your children to succeed-- it's time to join me.

Thank you very much.  May God continue to bless the citizens of our great nation.