Obama Swipes at Romney in Address to Latino Officials
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JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images(LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.) — It was billed as an “official” presidential speech on policy, but President Obama thrust election year politics front and center at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials annual conference today – including direct attacks on GOP rival Mitt Romney.
“Yesterday your featured speaker came here and said that the election in November isn’t about two people; it’s not about being a Republican or Democrat or an independent; it is about the future of America. And while we’ve got a lot of differences, he and I, on this point, I could not agree more,” Obama said at the top of his remarks.
But then the president framed the 2012 race as a stark choice, with high economic stakes for Latinos and the middle class.
“The question is not whether we need to do better. Of course the economy isn’t where it needs to be. Of course there’s still too many who struggle. We’ve got so much work to do,” Obama said. “But the question is, how do we make the economy grow faster? How do we create more jobs? How do we create more opportunity? The question is, what vision are we going to stand up for? Who are we going to fight for? That’s what we have to decide right now. That’s what this election’s about.”
Obama said his vision for economic growth centers on increased government spending on programs aimed at boosting the middle class, including federal aid to states to hire teachers and first responders, education and job training programs, and infrastructure projects to put construction workers back on the job.
“What’s holding us back is a stalemate, a stalemate in Washington between two fundamentally different views of which direction we should go,” Obama said.
“The Republicans who run Congress, the man at the top of their ticket — they don’t agree with any of the proposals I just talked about. They believe the best way to grow the economy is from the top down,” he said. “I think they’re wrong.”
Turning to immigration, Obama claimed to be a champion of ever-elusive comprehensive reform from the beginning of his term and pledged to continue to fight for it. He did not mention the two years Democrats controlled Congress.
“In the face of a Congress that refuses to do anything on immigration, I’ve said that I’ll take action wherever I can,” he said.
He called the executive action he took last week, suspending deportation of some young illegal immigrants and granting them work permits, an important albeit temporary step toward the DREAM Act. He blamed Republicans for obstructing its passage five years after co-sponsoring it.
“The need had not changed. The bill hadn’t changed, written with Republicans. The only thing that had changed was politics,” Obama said, lambasting congressional GOP to standing applause. “And I refused to keep looking young people in the eye — deserving young people in the eye and telling them, tough luck, the politics is too hard.”
Then, taking a swipe at Romney, Obama said: “Your speaker from yesterday has a different view. In his speech, he said that when he makes a promise to you, he’ll keep it. Well, he has promised to veto the DREAM Act. And we should take him at his word. I’m just saying. I believe that would be a tragic mistake. You do too.”
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