Mitt Romney: Obama Won With 'Gifts' To Blacks, Hispanics, Young Voters

BY DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is telling top donors that President Barack Obama won re-election because of the "gifts" he had already provided to blacks, Hispanics and young voters and because of the president's effort to paint Romney as anti-immigrant.

"The president's campaign, if you will, focused on giving targeted groups a big gift," Romney said in a call to donors on Wednesday. "He made a big effort on small things."

Romney said his campaign, in contrast, had been about "big issues for the whole country." He said he faced problems as a candidate because he was "getting beat up" by the Obama campaign and that the debates allowed him to come back.

In the call, Romney didn't acknowledge any major missteps, such as his "47 percent" remarks widely viewed as denigrating nearly half of Americans, his lack of support for the auto bailout, his call for illegal immigrants to "self-deport," or his change in position on abortion, gun control and other issues. He also didn't address the success or failure of the campaign's strategy of focusing on the economy in the face of some improvement in employment and economic growth during the months leading up to Election Day.

Obama won the popular vote by about 3.5 million votes, or 3 percent, and won the Electoral College by a wide margin, 332-206 electoral votes. Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks showed that Obama led Romney by 11 percentage points among women and won better than 7 of 10 Hispanic voters and more than 9 of 10 black voters.

Romney called his loss to Obama a disappointing result that he and his team had not expected, but he said he believed his team had run a superb campaign. He said he was trying to turn his thoughts to the future, "but, frankly, we're still so troubled by the past, it's hard to put together our plans for the future."

Romney's finance team organized the call to donors. The Los Angeles Times first reported Romney's remarks.

Among the "gifts" Romney cited were free health care "in perpetuity," which he said was highly motivational to black and Hispanic voters as well as for voters making $25,000 to $35,000 a year.

Romney also said the administration's promise to offer what he called "amnesty" to the children of illegal immigrants - what he termed "the so-called DREAM Act kids" - helped send Hispanics to the polls for Obama.

Young voters, Romney said, were motivated by the administration's plan for partial forgiveness of college loan interest and being able to remain on their parents' health insurance plans. Young women had an additional incentive to vote for Obama because of free contraception coverage under the president's health care plan, he said.

"I'm very sorry that we didn't win," he told donors. "I know that you expected to win. We expected to win. We were disappointed; we hadn't anticipated it."

Romney said he and his team were discussing how his donor group could remain connected and have an influence on the direction of the Republican Party and even the selection of a future nominee - "which, by the way, will not be me."

Thank to: http://main.aol.com/2012/11/14/mitt-romney-obama-gifts_n_2137376.html?utm_campaign=111512&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-aol&utm_content=FullStory

How an Obama Win Affects the Economy

After all the debates and speeches, Barack Obama has won the Presidential race. Obama's win boosts the economy for three key reasons:

First, no matter who won, the removal of a large level of uncertainty allows businesses to move forward with any expansion and hiring plans.

Second, an Obama win means a continuation of existing priorities. This boosts the economy because it removes another layer of uncertainty. If Romney had won, he promised to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, repeal Obamacare and get rid of Dodd-Frank. He also promised to lower taxes, increase defense spending and change mandatory spending programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. It's uncertain that he would have been able to make all of these changes, as they required a vote by Congress. He would also have needed a Republic majority in the Senate to push all these repeals through. This ongoing uncertainty would have further complicated business planning, acting as a headwind to economic growth.

Third, the positive impacts of many of Obama's programs have yet to be realized, while most of the negative impacts have already been priced into business planning. The investment in green technologies and natural gas is slowly removing our dependence on foreign oil. The newly-created Consumer Protection Agency is helping to end credit card fraud. Obamacare will help lower bankruptcy rates, since health care costs are the major causes of bankruptcies in this country.

Most important, defense spending will fall, freeing up Federal spending for job creation or debt reduction. In his first term, Obama spent more than any other President in history on defense -- $850 billion in FY 2012 alone. Now that bin Laden has been eliminated, the War in Iraq has ended, and the War in Afghanistan is winding down, this massive spending will (hopefully!) no longer be needed.

However, Obama's biggest challenge remains. That is to reduce the U.S. deficit and $16 trillion debt. However, this should not occur until the lingering effects of the recession are safely behind us. That means growth in the 3% range, and a reduction in unemployment to at least the 6% level. At that point, contradictory fiscal policy will be needed to slow growth and prevent another bubble. That would be the perfect time to raise taxes, cut spending and restore fiscal responsibility.

Unfortunately, deficit and debt reduction are a higher priority, thanks to imminent decisions that need to be made to avoid another debt ceiling crisis in the next few months and the fiscal cliff in January.

Thanks to: http://useconomy.about.com/b/2012/11/06/how-an-obama-win-affects-the-economy.htm?nl=1