Romney Camp: 2007 Obama Video Won’t Come Up During Debate
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NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GettyImages(WASHINGTON) — The controversial 2007 video in which President Barack Obama claimed the federal government discriminated against New Orleans after Katrina is unlikely to be brought up by Mitt Romney, a spokesman for the campaign said.
“I don’t expect that at all,” said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden when asked whether Romney would address the controversial video on the ABC News/Yahoo! News live streaming debate preview show on Wednesday. “I think that what’s more important in this debate and where the governor has planned to focus his efforts during his debate is on the president’s record.”
Video of a 2007 speech Obama delivered at Hampton University in Virginia reemerged on Tuesday after conservative website The Daily Caller published previously unreleased portions of the speech on their website. Fox News also aired parts of the video Tuesday night.
Though the 2007 event was covered by reporters at the time and during the 2008 election, The Daily Caller highlighted portions of the speech where Obama appeared to suggest that the federal government did not provide the same level of financial support for Katrina victims as it did for victims of 9/11 or Hurricane Andrew.
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt countered that the video is old news and an attempt to distract from the economic conversation.
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