In a high profile interview in USA Today, Mitt Romney accused President Obama of gutting the welfare work requirements to “shore up his base.”
The Romney campaign’s attacks on Obama’s welfare policy have come under attack because they are false and seen by some a coded racial appeal. The New York Times’ Tom Edsall writes that “the Romney campaign is clearly determined ‘to make this about’ race, in the tradition of the notorious 1988 Republican Willie Horton ad.”
Romney’s inaccurate claims about Obama’s welfare policy have been on heavy rotation in campaign ads:
Romney’s most recent comments intensify his strategy by explicitly claiming Obama’s core supporters are on public assistance and lazy. Last week, Romney “joked” about Obama’s birth certificate. The New York Times reported that Romney has decided to adopt a “more combative” strategy designed “to appeal to white, working-class voters.”
As governor of Massachusetts, Romney “supported the same waiver program he is now criticizing.” You can read his letter touting the waivers, which do not “gut” the work requirement, here.
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