Now that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has formally declared that he’s running for president, everything he’s ever said or acted upon on every issue will be dissected, scrutinized, praised and pilloried. He’s already gotten an earful from Tea Party activists and leaders for pushing a health care reform law in Massachusetts that looks too much like President Obama’s, a plan they loathe. He’s gotten an earful about his Mormon religious views. And he’s gotten an earful from conservatives that say he’s too pro-abortion, too pro-same sex marriage, and is too lax on federal spending.
Now he’s going to get an earful about race. Presidential candidates try to duck and dodge it because it’s just too much of a minefield that can blow up anytime on a candidate. Romney has found that out the hard way, though, that even when he thought that he didn’t say anything racially offensive, others did. He got an earful on race in 2006 when he told an Iowa Republican group that his troubled Big Dig highway construction project was a “tar baby.” This is considered a racially offensive term. He took heat for this and quickly apologized.
He got another earful during a vacation stop in the Bahamas in 2008 when he thrust his arm around a teen girl and said “Who let the dogs out” and then woofed. This was supposed to be his riff on the popular 2000 song by the Baha Men, a Bahamian singing group, and Romney apparently was just trying to be cute and playful. This might have passed under the racial radar scope but Romney put his foot back in his mouth when he later mindlessly added in gawking at a child’s necklace “Oh, you’ve got some bling-bling here.” Romney again got an earful for this.
For the next two years, he seemed to pretty much play it close to the racial vest by not uttering a word that could be construed as having a racial tinge to it. But then he slipped. At a dinner hosted by Americans for Prosperity in April, he took a shot at President Obama telling the crowd that he was going to hang the ‘Obama Misery Index’ around Obama’s neck. Romney’s ears ringed with howls that he had evoked an image that is the ultimate taboo when referring to a black man; the lynch rope image. Romney again backpedaled and assured that it was merely a figure of speech and there was absolutely no racial intent -open or subtle—to it.
Romney still didn’t get it. A week later, immediately after Obama released his long form birth certificate, he opened a GOP potential candidate’s forum in New Hampshire with what he considered a joke saying “there was no one more disappointed than that amiable, know-it-all windbag — Joe Biden.” The joke was on Romney and he was roundly accused of playing to the racist, and phony birther issue and sentiment. These loose tongued, thoughtless borderline racist quips don’t make Romney a racist. But it does touch off warning bells.
Then there’s his public record. As a one term Massachusetts governor, there’s not much to put one’s finger on when it comes to issues directly involving race. Much of his term as governor he spent arm wrestling with the rock solid Democratic state legislature on tax and budget issues. Romney, though, did spell out his position on two critical areas that do touch on race, affirmative action andeducation. He was asked during the 2008 presidential primary campaign about both. He was emphatic that he did not support quotas in hiring, government contracting, school admissions or the like. That’s, of course, the standard line for all GOP politicians and for that matter most Democrats, including President Obama.
Romney gave the stock answer that he supported diversity in government and corporations. His stance on jobs and education was pretty standard stuff too. He backs school choice and says that the best antidote to chronic unemployment is to cut taxes and encourage private sector job growth.
The real test for Romney on racial matters and other public policy issues that directly affect African-Americans, minorities and the poor will come in the weeks and months ahead when he’s in full swing on the campaign trail. Romney will be asked to tell exactly where he stands on affirmative action, health care and criminal justice system racial disparities, increased funding and initiatives for inner city schools, and minority business. That will tell much about just who the real Romney is when it comes to his vision and program for dealing with racial problems. It will also tell whether Romney’s race tinged gaffes were just innocent, know nothing slips, or something more calculated. In other words, Romney will and should get an earful on race.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is host of the weekly Hutchinson Report Newsmaker Hour on KTYM Radio Los Angeles streamed on ktym.com podcast on blogtalkradio.com and internet TV broadcast on thehutchinsonreportnews.com Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/earlhutchinson