. . .
Romney attempted to appeal to what he perceives as latent xenophobia by pitting the black Democratic president against white-bread middle America and conventional Main Street. In so doing, Romney became just another cliche, playing to the Southern racial politics of yesteryear — or what we hope is a bygone era. But is it really? Romney’s hedging his bets that it’s not and that he can manipulate the electorate with the specter of race and fear.
So, what do we get? Nuts being thrown at a black white-collar professional like she was a circus animal.
Whether serious or in jest, Romney’s comments dovetail with his recent racialized attack ads suggesting erroneously that Obama’s political “base” is welfare recipients. According to Romney, Obama paved the way for slackers and welfare queens by taking the “work requirement” out of welfare, thereby giving away Middle America’s hard earned tax dollars.
Interestingly enough, as with the Affordable Care Act, for which Massachusetts laid the blueprint when he was governor of that state, Romney was also one of 29 Republican governors to endorse waivers for the welfare work requirement. To now accuse a black president of pandering to welfare recipients when, in reality, the face of welfare is hardly black or brown, is an attempt to conjure up Willie Horton-style politics and fear among the majority of voters — particularly affluent and middle-class white voters. Romney’s attempt to Willie Horton-ize Obama is a weak attempt to sully a president whom many across the racial spectrum, according to polls, find highly relatable.
. . .