has access to affordable health care. where seniors -- where seniors have access to prescription drugs and the lower cost, where they have access to preventive care making their lives more livable and reducing costs. where insurance companies cannot deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition, where there are no limits on insurance policies. where children can stay with their parents on the policy until they're 26, where medicare is guaranteed and medicaid is expanded! where no american, where no american faces the prospects of bankruptcy just because they get sick. romney and his allies see his health care a different way,

controlled by the insurance companies, where pregnancy is a pre-existing condition, where coverage can be taken away to get sick and hit your limit and where medicare is voucherized. 19 million people cut off of medicaid, where 30 million americans will have to wait for another generation before they have a chance for affordable, decent healthcare. on the tax system, we see a system where everybody pays their fair share. where the middle class tax cut is maintained and where no one making $1 million or more paysa i lower percentage in income than middle class and working class families. where the college tuition tax cut is made permanent, where the earned income tax credit is

preserved and where anyone and i mean everyone has skin in the game and no one is played for a sucker. the tax code with governor romney and his allies envision continues to be skewed to help the very wealthy. he preserves the bush tax cuts with the wealthiest among us and $530 billion of the tax cuts going to just 120,000 households in america. well, we've cut into this rate all these other programs while the debt continues to climb, but in addition he proposes a $1.6 trillion tax cut. the people who can qualify are only people who make $1 million

or more. he eliminates college tuition tax credit, the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit cut. the result, 2.2 million african-american families see a tax increase if he succeeds. that's a fact. we see a future where we, we, the president and i see a future where america leads by the power of example as well as the example of its power. where -- where the democracies of the world join to share the burden and maintain world peace, where we continue to reduce nuclear arms around the world, where responsibility is turned over to the afghans and american troops can start to come home.

>> governor romney and his allies see a very different future for america's involvement in the world. one that still has 30,000 combat troops in iraq. remember he criticized us for bringing them home? said 30,000 combat troops should remain. where we set no date for leaving afghanistan, we stay and he doesn't say how long. where the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty, the new arms control treaty with russia endorsed by every secretary of state, secretary of state of defense and nasa security council and the republican party said he would not have proposed it and would have voted against it and where i suspect, he would abandon it, where russia is viewed in his mind as the greatest geopolitical threat america

faces. where in the future we will once again decide to go it alone. this guy's vision of the future of american foreign policy is mired in the cold war and the cold war is over. and civil rights, and the reason for our existence and by the way, i want to remind everybody of one thing. remember, remember what this at its core was all about, why this organization at its core was all abo about. it was about the franchise and it was about the right to vote because when you have the right to vote you have the right to change things!

and we, the president and i and eric and all of us, we see a future where those rights are expanded, not diminished and where racial profiling is a thing of the past! where access to the ballot is expanded and unencumbered. where there are no distinctions made on the basis of race or gender in access to housing and lending. and so much more. did you think we'd be fighting these battles again? i was chairman of the judiciary committee for almost 17 years with the ranking member. we've been through these battles. i didn't think. i didn't think we'd be back.

i remember working with republicans, republicans, and by the way, this ain't your father's republican party. remember -- remember working with republicans on motor voter, on expanding the franchise on -- on early voting. on voting by mail? some of these were republican ideas. this is not the republican party nor romney's. they see a different future where voting is made harder, not easier. where the justice department is even prohibited from challenging any of those efforts to suppress votes. no, i know you know, but the house of representatives voted

affirmatively to prevent the justice department from even investigating whether or not there was voter suppression. folks, there's a lot more to say, but this is preaching to the choir. let me close, my friends, by saying i want you -- i mean this sincerely, let's close your eyes and imagine. imagine what the romney and justice department will look like. imagine when his senior adviser on constitutional issues is robert bork. imagine the recomendations who

is likely to be picked as attorney general as head of the civil rights commission or the other important positions of justice. imagine, and i say this -- this, to me, is one of the most critical issues in this election. imagine what the supreme court will look like after four years of a romney presidency. folks, this election in my view is the fight for the heart and soul of america. again, these guys aren't bad guys. they just have a fundamentally different view. the best way to sum up the president's view, my view, and i think your view is we see america where in the words of the scripture, what you do unto

the least of my brethren you do unto me. as president barack obama says we are our brother's keeper. we are our sister's keeper. we have an obligation, and it's at the outset, as i said, i believe this election will come down to character, conviction and vision and it will not surprise you, i don't think it's even a close call. so it's time -- it's time for the naacp to do what it's always done, what it did for me and the young kid in wilmington, delaware, that's inspired a generation to stand up and make our case, stand our ground and make a hard vision for america. god bless you all and may god protect our troops! thank you! thank you! ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ mitt romney addressed the naacp yesterday, if you want things better in the african-american committee, you're looking at them. mr. romney was booed when recalling the law. >> do i love that music. i do love listening to the organ music and the piano and hearing that that was a wonderful thing.

good morning, members of the naacp and thank you to bishop grays for his generous introduction and thank you also to president ben gellis and chairman brock for the opportunity to be here this morning and for the hospitality. this is abhonor to address you and one i had not expected and one i value very highly. i appreciate the chance to speak first even before the vice president and vice president biden will get here tomorrow and i just hope the obama campaign doesn't think you're playing favorites. now you know something about my background and you've wondered how any republican can ever become governor of massachusetts in the first place. well, when you're in a state with 11% republican registration, you don't get there by just talking to republicans. you have to make your case to every single voter. we don't count anybody out and we sure don't make a phabit of

presuming anyone's support. support is what i ask for and that's why i'm here today. with african-americans who typically vote for democrats, some may wonder why a republican would bother to campaign in the african-american community and to address the naacp. one answer is i hope to represent all americans, of every race, creed and sexual orientation. from the poorest to the richest and everyone in between, but there's another reason. i believe that if you understood who i truly am in my heart, and if it were possible to fully communicate what i believe is in the real, enduring best interest of african-american families you would vote for me for president. i want you to know that if i did not believe that my policies and my leadership would help families of color and families of any color more than the policies and leadership of

president obama i wouldn't be running for president. think, you know the opposition charges that i and people of my party are running for office to help the rich. nonsense. the rich will do just fine whether i'm elected or not. the president wants to make this campaign about blaming the rich and i want to make this campaign about helping the middle class in america. i'm running for president because i know that my policies and vision will help millions of middle class americans of all races, will lift people from poverty and will help prevent people from becoming poor in the first place. my campaign is about helping the people who need help. of course, the president has set won't do that. my course will. when president obama called to congratulate me on becoming the presumptive nominee, a gracious

call, he said that, quote, he looked forward to an important and healthy debate about america's future. i'm afraid that his campaign has taken a different course in that, but in campaigns at their best, voters can expect a clear choice and candidates can expect a fair hearing only more so from a venerable organization like this one. so it's that healthy debate about the course of the nation that i want to discuss with you today. now someone had told us in the 1950s or 1960s that a black citizen would serve as the 44th president of the united states. we have been proud and many would have been surprised. picturing that day, we might have assumed that the american presidency would be the very last door of opportunity to be opened. before that came to pass, every other barrier in the path to

equal opportunity would surely have had to come down. of course, it hasn't happened quite that way. many barriers remain, old inequities persist. the unemployment rate, the duration of unemployment, average income, median family wealth are all worse in the black community. in june, while the overall unemployment rate remained stuck at 8.2%, the unemployment rate for african-americans actually went up from 13.6% to 14.4%.

americans of every background are asking when this economy will finally recover and you in particular are entitled to an answer. if equal opportunity -- if equal opportunity in america were an accomplished fact, black families could send their sons and daughters to public schools that truly offer the hope of a better life. instead, for generations the african-american community has been waiting and waiting for that promise to be kept. to date, black children are 17% of students nationwide, but they are 42% of the students in our worst performing schools and our society says them in a mediocre school that expects them to perform with excellence and that's simply not fair. frederick douglas observed, and i quote, it's easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. [ applause ]

and yet, instead of preparing these children for life, too many schools set them up for failure, everyone in this room knows that we owe them better than that. the path of inequality often leads to lost opportunity. college, graduate school and first jobs should be the milestones, marking the passage from childhood to adulthood and for too many disadvantaged young people these goals seem unattainable, and many live in neighborhoods filled with violence and fears and empty of opportunity and their impatience for change is understandable. they're entitled to feel that life in america should be better than this and they are told to wait for improvements in our economy and in our schools and it seems to me that these americans have waited long

enough. the point is that when decades of the same promises keep producing the same failures and it's reasonable to re-think our approach and consider a new plan. i'm hopeful that together they can set a new direction, starting where many of the problems do start with the family and a study by the brookings institution has shown that for those who graduate from high school, who get a full-time job and wait until 21 before they marry and then have their first child, the probability of becoming poor is 2%, and if those factors are absent, the probability of being poor is 76%. here at the naacp you understand the deep and lasting difference that family makes. your former executive director dr. benjamin hooks had it exactly right. the family, he said, quote,

remains the bull work and the mainstay of the black community. that great truth must not be overlooked, end of quote. any policy that lifts up and honors the family is going to be good for the country and that must be our goal. as president, i will our goal. as president i will promote strong families and i will defend traditional marriage. [ applause ] >> now as you may have heard from my opponent, i'm also a believer in the free enterprise system. i believe it can bring change where so many well meaning government programs have failed. i never heard anyone look around an impoverished neighborhood and say you know, there's too much free enterprise around here. too many shops, too many jobs, too many people putting money in the bank. what you hear, of course, is how do we bring in jobs?

how do we make good honest employers want to move in? stay in. what the shape the economy's in today, we're asking that question more and more. free enterprise, free enterprise is still the greatest force for upward mobility, economic security and the expansion of the middle class. we've seen in recent years what it's like to have less free enterprise. as president, i'll show the good things that can happen when we have more free enterprise. more business activity. more jobs. more opportunity. more paychecks. more savings accounts. on day one i'll begin turning this economy around with a plan for the middle class. and i don't just mean for those who are middle classed now. i also mean for those who have waited so long for their chance to join the middle class. [ applause ] and by the way, i know what it takes to put people to work, to bring more jobs and better

wages. my plan is based on 25 years of success in business. it's a job recover plan that has five key steps. first, i'll going to take full advantage of our energy resources. and i will prove the keystone pipeline from canada. low cost, plenty of natural gas, coal, oil and renewables will bring over a million manufacturing jobs back to the united states. [ applause ] second, i want to open up new markets for american goods. we're the most productive major economy in the world. so trade means good jobs for americans. but trade has to be fair and free. so i'll clamp down on cheaters like china and make sure they finally play by the rules and don't steal our jobs.

and third, i'm going to reduce government spending. i hope everyone understands that high levels of debt slow down the rate of growth of the gdp, of the economy. and that means fewer jobs are created. if our goal is jobs, we have to stop spending over a trillion dollars more than we take in every year. [ applause ] and so to do that, i'm going to eliminate every nonessential expensive program i can find. that includes obama care and i'm going to work to reform and say -- [ crowd booing ] >> you know there was a survey -- there was a survey of the chamber of commerce. they carried out a survey of their members about 1500

surveyed. and they asked them what effect obama care would have on their plans and 3/4 of them said it made them less like toy to hire people. i say again if our priority is jobs, that's my priority, that's something i'd change and i'd replace with something that provides the people something they need in health care which is lower cost, good quality, capacity to deal with people who have preexisting conditions and i'll put that in place. i'll also work to reform and save medicare and social security. people keep talking about the fact that those programs are on the pathway to insolvency and yet nothing gets done to fix it. i will fix them and make sure they're permanent and secured for our seniors todd and for seniors tomorrow. i'll do that in part by means testing the benefitsing. meaning higher benefits for lower income folks. fourth, i'm going to focus on

nurturing and developing the skilled workers that our economy so desperately needs today and the future demands. this is the human capital with which tomorrow's bright future can be built. and by the way, too many homes and too many schools are failing to provide our children with the skills and education that are essential for anything other than a minimum wage job. [ applause ] and finally and perhaps most importantly, i'll restore economic freedom. this nation's economy runs on freedom. on opportunity. on entrepreneurs, on dreamers, who innovate and build businesses. these entrepreneurs are being crushed by high taxation, unnecessary burdensome regular lace, hostile regulators, excessive health care costs and destructive labor policies. i will go to work to make

america the best place in the world for innovators, for entrepreneurs and for businesses large and small. do these five things, open up energy, expand trade, cut the growth of government, focus on better educating tomorrow's workers todd and restore economic freedom and jobs will come back to america and wages will rise again. we have got to do it. i know the president will say he's going to do those things, but he has not, will not and cannot. his last four years in the white house prove it definitively. if i'm president, job one for me will be creating jobs. let me say that again, my agenda is not to put in place a series of policies that get me a lot of attentioned a applause. my policy will be number one create jobs for the american

people. i do not have a hidden agenda. and i submit to you this, if you want a president who will make things better in the african-american community you are look at him. [ applause ] you take a look. finally, i will address the institutionalized inequality in education. i know something about this as my time as governor. in the years before i took office, our states leaders had come together to pass bipartisan measures that were making a difference. in reading and math our students were already among the best in the nation. during my term, they took over the top spot. those results we vealed what good teachers can do in the system will let them. the problem was, this success wasn't shared. a significant achievement gap between students of different races remain. so we set out to do our best to close it. i urged faster interventions in

failing schools. and the funding to go along wit. i promoted math and science excellence in schools and proposed paying bonuses to our best teachers. i refused to weaken testing standards and instead raise them to graduate from high school in massachusetts students now had to pass an exam in math and english. i added a requirement as well. i put in place a merit scholarship for all those students who excelled. the top 25% of students in each high school in massachusetts were awarded a john and abigail adams scholarship. four years tuition free at any massachusetts public institution of higher learning. and when i was governor not only did our test scores improve, we also narrowed the achievement gap. the teachers unions weren't happy with the reforms.

they did not like our emphasis on choice through charter schools which is a great benefit to inner city kids trapped in underperforming schools. accordingly the legislature passed a moratorium or any new charter schools. in boston, harlem and los angeles across the country charter schools are giving children a chance. children that otherwise could be locked in failing schools. i was inspired a few weeks ago by the students in one of kenny gamble's charter schools in philadelphia. right here in houston is another remarkable success story the knowledge is power program, which has set the standard thanks to the ground breaking work of the the late harriet ball. these charter schools are doing a lot more than closing the achievement gap. they're bringing hope. and real opportunity to places where for years there's been none. charter schools are so successful that almost every politician can find something good ty