Political observers had a field day with Mitt Romney’s recent appearance in front of the NAACP. What was his real agenda? What was up with the booing?
Romney likely earned begrudging credit and political points at least from some independents for going in front of a gathering that was not his crowd, to say the least. Recall that Rick Scott couldn’t do that when he ran for governor. Romney wasn’t there to convert anyone, and he wasn’t there to preach to the converted, unless Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell or Herman Cain were incognito.
For what it’s worth, I think a Bronx cheer never sounded so good to a candidate–nor seemed so orchestrated to others. Romney invited the response when he belittled the Affordable Care Act as “Obamacare,” which is blatant, partisan code. That was taken as the affront it was meant as. A predictable knee-jerk response resulted. A politely welcoming audience morphed into Philadelphia Phillies fans.
That 15-second sound bite–with an unflappable Romney waiting for the impolite reaction to subside–will be seen and heard again. It will be seen and heard by all those not in that room that it was really aimed at: uncommitted whites with a political lens that just might enable them to perceive a leader willing to boldly go into the opponent’s house and tell them what they didn’t want to hear. As in, hey, this guy can take off the mittens. That takes some guts. And he gets booed for that?