From remarks by Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate and former Texas governor, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., July 2.
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Perry made a bid for the White House in 2012, but is not considered to be a frontrunner in the current race and is believed to be trailing competitors Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and likely candidate Scott Walker in lining up big-money backers for his campaign. It’s time for Republicans to go into African-American communities with our proposals to revive those communities, since the Democrats, who have been in near total control of them for decades, have failed utterly with their approach.
In his speech, which was excerpted in the Journal, Perry said that President Obama “cannot be proud of the fact that the prevalence of black poverty has actually increased under his leadership”. So why is it that today so many black families feel left behind? Why…
“For Republicans to ‘reclaim our heritage”, Perry the party must spell out and campaign on an agenda of economic reform.
“I am proud to live in a country with an African-American president”. He pointed to 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater voted against the Civil Rights Act because “he thought a part of it was unconstitutional”.
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“When we gave up trying to win the support of African Americans, we lost our moral legitimacy as the party of Lincoln, as the party of equal opportunity for all”, he said. “And because slavery and segregation were sanctioned by government, there is a role for government policy in addressing their lasting effects”, he said.
