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