Oct. 26--TAMPA -- Diana Louis and Sharisma Smith went to hear President Obama on
Thursday because, as young black women, they think he will help them find jobs
when they graduate from college.
The two, both juniors at Tampa's University of South Florida, questioned
whether Republican Mitt Romney has their best interests in mind.
"I don't see eye-to-eye with him," said Smith, 20, who is studying
business administration. "As a woman and a black person, he can't relate.
"I feel Obama is more progressive for college students, especially."
Louis, also 20, is studying
psychology.
"I feel like Romney is more concerned about the upper classes, not those
who are trying to get jobs," she said.
Ronnie L. Moorer, 57, a Tampa artist and African-American artifact
collector, expressed similar doubts about the Republican candidate, saying he
believed in what Obama stands for, and what he's doing for the country.
"He has a better economic plan than Romney," said Moorer. "He's for the
people, and Romney, he's for the rich people."
During an appearance early Thursday, Obama contrasted his economic plan
with that of his Republican challenger, urging the crowd to remember Romney's
policies "aren't going to work."
Obama noted that Romney's economic plan "says folks at the very top get
to play by a different set of rules than you do," paying lower tax rates,
outsourcing jobs and rolling back Wall Street reforms.
Romney's view is based upon the same philosophy that created a great
recession, Obama said, adding, "We tried that in the last decade, and it
didn't work."
Obama also referred to what he called "the issue of trust," saying trust
matters.
He cited as examples ending the war in Iraq, transitioning out of
Afghanistan and sending al-Qaida on the path to defeat, with its leader, Osama
Bin Laden, now dead.
"I've kept those promises," he said.
But the Romney campaign took issue with Obama's statement that he had
preserved Medicare.
"President Obama says that 'trust matters,' but Florida seniors already
know that he cannot be trusted to preserve Medicare," said Ryan Williams, a
spokesman for the Romney campaign.
"President Obama cut Medicare by over $700 billion, which will force
seniors off Medicare Advantage and drive up out-of-pocket costs for current
retirees, and he has no plan to save Medicare for future generations."
Polls showed Thursday that less than two weeks out from Election Day,
Romney has erased Obama's 16-point advantage among women, according to a new
Associated Press-GfK poll. And the president, in turn, has largely eliminated
Romney's edge among men.
Those churning gender dynamics leave the presidential race still a
virtual dead heat, with Romney favored by 47 percent of likely voters and
Obama by 45 percent, a result within the poll's margin of sampling error, the
survey shows, according to The Associated Press.
Obama told the Tampa crowd that he has spent four years cleaning up after
the Bush administration.
Romney is "counting on you forgetting that his policies aren't going to
work," the president said. "He's hoping that you won't remember, and you'll
come down with a case of what we call 'Romnesia.'
"He's hoping you won't remember that his economic plan is likely to
create jobs in China, not America."
Obama urged voters to stick with his policies, which are proving
successful as the economy gains strength.
"And now, it's up to you, now it's up to you, right here in Florida
today," he said, "You can choose the path that we go from here; it's up to the
young people here to choose the future you that you want to see.
"You can choose the top-down policies that got us into this mess, or you
can choose the policies that are getting us out of this mess."
The Romney campaign issued a news release Thursday downplaying Obama's
visit.
"The president's remarks in Tampa today were a desperate, last-ditch
effort to gloss over his failed record and fool voters into thinking he
actually has a plan to turn the economy around," stated Jeff Bechdel, Florida
communications director for the Romney campaign.
The streets of the old Latin neighborhood of Ybor City teemed with a
crowd, which Tampa Fire Marshal Milton Jenkins estimated at about 8,500. Some
had parked across the street in the private parking lot of the venerable
Columbia Restaurant.
When motorists returned to retrieve their cars, they found a flier from
Richard Gonzmart, whose family has operated The Columbia Restaurant for more
than 100 years.
It urged them to vote for Romney.
"Five Generations of my family built this private parking lot -- but we
haven't towed you," it said. "I do hope you vote for Romney -- because it is
about people helping people -- not being told by the government to help
people."
