Reuters reports that Perry indicated at the speech at the National Press Club that it is the perfect time for the GOP to appeal to African-American voters because they are tiring of the Democrat’s economic policies that have not been working for decades.
Perry’s statement draws from economic indicators that show that while Democrats have successfully governed in African-American communities for quite some time, the rate of poverty remains high for blacks. He declared that it would be the Republican Party, and not the Democratic Party who would answer the need that black Americans and their children have for a better life.
Perry unveiled his plan that he said would address the issue by taking federal money that currently is being spent on poverty and split it into two sections. For the first section, he proposed taking the funds to expand the Earned Income Tax credit. When this credit is used, it would be large enough to lift an individual above the poverty line. Additionally, he said that the other funds would be used to provide block grants that the states could use as they saw fit.
Perry’s comments and strategies coincide with recent public debate regarding race relations that have heightened after the recent murders of nine black worshipers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina and after a call for removal of the Confederate flag.
The former governor announced at the National Press Club that he was proud to live in a country that has an African-American president, but he was also vocal about worsening economic conditions for black Americans.
Perry criticized President Obama, saying that the president couldn’t be proud of the fact that poverty had increased for blacks during his term. He elaborated more by saying that “specific policies advanced by the president and his allies on the left amount to little more than throwing money at the problem and walking away,”
Former Texas Governor Perry also took the opportunity to criticize the recent controversial remarks Donald Trump made about Mexican immigrants. Trump announced during his campaigning kickoff in June that the immigrants are “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Perry said that the mogul’s remarks don’t “reflect the Republican Party.”
The presidential hopeful indicated during his speech that Republicans should take this opportunity to reclaim their heritage as the only party in the United States that was founded on principles of freedom on the part of African-Americans.
He went on to say that he felt that Republicans showed great apathy toward garnering the vote of black voters, and because of this, they had lost their “moral legitimacy as the party of Lincoln.” He also said that Republicans were content to go without the black vote in the past because they could win elections without it. His position was that this certain approach would not work in the upcoming election.
This position is the same as other Republican Party leaders who showed concern that their party can’t win a presidential bid without the support of the black community. It’s a concern that begin to formulate after they found out that Mitt Romney only carried 6 percent of the African-American voter base during his failed 2012 bid for the presidency.
Rick Perry had many accomplishments as the governor of Texas — chief among them being job creation. Perry ran unsuccessfully in for the presidency in 2012 and lost the bid for different reasons; one of the main reasons given by analysts were that his debate skills were lackluster.
US News reports that he famously drew a blank when he could not remember the third federal agency he would eliminate from the budget if her were elected, saying “It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone, commerce, education and the ughhh…what’s the third one there?” “The third one I can’t…I’m sorry..oops.” Rick Perry registers in most polls in low single digits among polls taken for the presidential contenders for Republicans, Reuters also reported.
