Skip to main content
Part of complete coverage on
 

Actually, Mitt, even a lot of white voters didn't want you

By Roland Martin, CNN Contributor
updated 4:42 PM EST, Thu November 15, 2012
Roland Martin asks, why is Mitt Romney largely blaming minorities for his loss to President Obama?
Roland Martin asks, why is Mitt Romney largely blaming minorities for his loss to President Obama?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Roland Martin: Mitt Romney is largely blaming minorities for his loss to President Obama
  • In a talk with donors, Romney said Obama showered minorities and young voters with "gifts"
  • Exit polls say 72% of all U.S. voters were white, and Romney received 59% of their votes
  • Martin: America should be thankful minorities and young rejected Romney's "nonsense"

Editor's note: Roland Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House." He is a commentator for the TV One cable network and host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, "Washington Watch with Roland Martin."

(CNN) -- If you took a moment during the heat of the presidential race to drop by the Mitt Romney campaign office, you would have been shocked by the number of white people working to get him elected. About the only color you would have seen were the red and white in the Romney-Ryan posters.

If you met with Romney's senior campaign team -- the decision makers -- you would have said major corporations in America have more diversity on their boards of directors than these guys.

At a Romney campaign event, followers of mine on Twitter always played the "do-you-know-that-one-black-person-who-is-always-standing-behind-Mitt-with-a-sign" game. Seriously. Seeing someone black, Hispanic or Asian at a Romney campaign rally was always a sight to behold.

Roland Martin
Roland Martin

So why in the world is Mitt Romney now largely blaming minorities for the butt-kicking administered to him by President Obama?

Politics: Jindal slams Romney for 'gifts' comment about minorities, young voters

In a conference call with donors, Romney attributed his loss to the president playing Santa Claus by showering minorities and young voters with "gifts" -- health care, student loans and those things Americans clearly don't need.

Become a fan of CNNOpinion
Stay up to date on the latest opinion, analysis and conversations through social media. Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion and follow us @CNNOpinion on Twitter. We welcome your ideas and comments.



"The Obama campaign was following the old playbook of giving a lot of stuff to groups that they hoped they could get to vote for them and be motivated to go out to the polls, specifically the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people," Romney said during the conference call. "In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups."

Opinion: Democrats, don't get too cocky

Hey, black people, Mitt reveals what you got for your vote!

"With regards to African-American voters, 'Obamacare' was a huge plus -- and was highly motivational to African-American voters. You can imagine for somebody making $25-, or $30-, or $35,000 a year, being told 'You're now going to get free health care' -- particularly if you don't have it, getting free health care worth, what, $10,000 a family, in perpetuity -- I mean this is huge. Likewise with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus."

Romney: Obama gave 'gifts' to voters
Van Hollen: Romney comment way off base
Romney: Obama's 'gifts' won him votes

Hey, Hispanic people, what did Obama have for you behind door No. 2?

"The amnesty for the children of illegals -- the so-called Dream Act kids -- was a huge plus for that voting group. On the negative side, of course, they always characterized us as being anti-immigrant, being tough on illegal immigration, and so forth, so that was very effective with that group."

Jindal: How Republicans can win future elections

Wow, thanks, Daddy Mitt, for breaking that down for us!

Now it's time for a dose of reality from the black guy to the white guy, Mitt Romney.

Mitt, last I checked, the Affordable Care Act is for all Americans. The white ones too! Your effort to portray the health care law as nothing more than a freebie to the blacks is a joke.

The Dream Act for kids could largely be seen as helping Latinos, but there are some white folks and people of African descent mixed into the pot that makes up those in the country illegally, so you're again off base.

But Mitt, you need to check your facts and realize that there were a lot of white people who really didn't like you.

Opinion: Republicans lost the culture war

According to exit polls, 72% of all U.S. voters were white. That's a super majority.

Mitt, you got 59% of those voters. That's a big number, but you must understand that you might have wanted to appeal to more than just white voters to win. When you give one speech to the NAACP and only one interview with a black media outlet, Black Enterprise -- son, that's not gonna cut it.

But the most hilarious thing to see is how many of the whitest states in America the white guy lost to the black guy.

See, if you accept Romney's theory that minorities were a prime reason he lost, then he should have cleaned up in the Electoral College in those really, really, really white states.

Let's take a look:

Maine, 94% white: Obama

Vermont, 94% white: Obama

New Hampshire, 92% white: Obama

West Virginia, 93% white: Romney

Iowa, 88% white: Obama

North Dakota, 88% white: Romney

Wyoming, 85% white: Romney

Idaho, 83% white: Romney

Nebraska, 82% white: Romney

Ohio, 81% white: Obama

Utah, 80% white: Romney

That means of 11 really, really, really white states, Obama won five and Romney won six. So Mitt, if it's just about those minorities, what happened?

This is why Mitt Romney shouldn't have been president. He can't accept reality, and his judgment on his loss is more than suspect.

Even Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a fellow Republican, had to smack Romney for his ignorant comments: "I absolutely reject that notion," he said. "I think that's absolutely wrong."

Opinion: How Republicans can win future elections

Bottom line, Mitt: The black guy beat you because he offered a more inclusive message to a cross section of people than you. You wanted to protect the richest of the rich in this country, and President Obama saw that providing a pathway to college to a wider number of Americans, as well as confronting the health crisis we have, was vitally important.

Mitt, your message was arrogant and dismissive. The "47%" comment you made at that Florida fundraiser, which you later said was "completely wrong," was clearly meant in earnest. You actually believed what you said. You think that minorities and young people are a bunch of victims who just want free stuff, or as you call them, gifts.

Well, Mitt, America should be thankful minorities and young people rejected your nonsense. We need a president who offers a vision for a more inclusive America, not one who sees health care, college loans and an initiative to deal with immigration reform as "gifts."

GPS: Did Ryan's ideas doom Romney?

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland Martin.

ADVERTISEMENT
Part of complete coverage on
updated 5:39 PM EDT, Tue May 21, 2013
Nathan Gunter says Okies have learned to love the big sky, but also to watch it carefully for signs of trouble: When the sky betrays us, we cope by helping one another.
updated 5:43 PM EDT, Tue May 21, 2013
LZ Granderson says the heroics of teachers who shielded kids in the Oklahoma tornado remind us of what they do for our country
updated 10:14 PM EDT, Tue May 21, 2013
Tornado researcher Louis Wicker says progress is being made on understanding and predicting extreme storms, but if you hear a warning, take cover immediately
updated 7:29 AM EDT, Tue May 21, 2013
The masked henchmen grabbed three fingers on each of the Syrian political cartoonist's hands and pulled them back all the way -- so far that they cracked.
updated 11:22 AM EDT, Mon May 20, 2013
Meg Urry says loss of the failing, planet-finding Kepler satellite would be huge for NASA--but one way or another, it's a matter of time before we find signs of life on other worlds
updated 12:21 PM EDT, Tue May 21, 2013
Yahoo isn't buying a technology company so much as the community that uses it, Douglas Rushkoff says
updated 11:15 AM EDT, Tue May 21, 2013
Joseph Nye says it's far too early to write off the rest of the president's second term because of the IRS controversy, other issues
updated 7:32 AM EDT, Mon May 20, 2013
Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton write that people pass up opportunities to spend their money to avoid disagreeable tasks
updated 9:45 AM EDT, Sun May 19, 2013
Bob Greene on how 18th century Americans tried to make sense of the day with no sun
updated 8:57 PM EDT, Fri May 17, 2013
With guest Rep. Keith Ellison, John Avlon, Margaret Hoover and Dean Obeidallah discuss the president's scandal trifecta, hope for immigration and what Jolie's revelation means for women.
updated 1:09 PM EDT, Fri May 17, 2013
The press has turned on President Obama with a vengeance, writes Howard Kurtz
updated 2:01 PM EDT, Sat May 18, 2013
Donna Brazile says our democracy is endangered, not by the Russians, North Korea, Iran or even terrorists. To quote Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us."
updated 1:59 PM EDT, Sat May 18, 2013
Photographer Arne Svenson defends his show "Neighbors," portraits of the occupants of a building near him taken through their windows.
updated 9:37 AM EDT, Mon May 20, 2013
Theater critic Kevin Williamson was kicked out of a play when he took the phone away from an audience member and threw it. He says it was worth it.
updated 10:25 AM EDT, Sat May 18, 2013
U.S. actor Angelina Jolie (L) holds daughter Zahara as husband and actor Brad Pitt (C) carries son Maddox during a stroll on the seafront promenade at the historic Gateway of India outside their hotel in Mumbai on November 12, 2006.
Gil Welch says women must not panic over Angelina Jolie's mastectomies: 99% of women don't carry the BRCA1 gene.
updated 4:52 AM EDT, Sat May 18, 2013
JR's "Inside Out" project brings public spaces alive with giant representations of people
updated 3:22 PM EDT, Fri May 17, 2013
Roger Colinvaux says the IRS scandal is fundamentally about disclosure of donors, not tax-exempt status.
updated 11:14 AM EDT, Thu May 16, 2013
Maia Goodell says the military should use civil legal remedies on sexual assault cases.
ADVERTISEMENT