On Tuesday, President Barack Obama spoke with the publisher and editor of the Des Moines Register, thinking that the discussion was off the record. In what turns out to be a conversation not off the record, Obama told the paper that if he wins a second term in office it would occur because of the way Mitt Romney has alienated Hispanic voters.
“Since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt,” Obama said to the paper on a phone call. “Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community.”
The White House did not want to interview to hit the public airwaves but the paper complained and wanted an explanation as to why it could not publish the comments. The paper published a blog post slamming the interview for not being public and on Wednesday morning, the Obama campaign agreed to publishing the comments.
Obama has experienced a large lead with Latino voters during this campaign and a polling company predicted Wednesday that he is going to win the Latino vote by a three-to-one margin. Obama pointed out to the newspaper that other Republicans were able to perform better in the polls with Latinos.
“George Bush and Karl Rove were smart enough to understand the changing nature of America,” he said.
For the most part, the views on immigration reform by the Republicans are opposed by Latino voters since Romney does not agree with ‘amnesty’ or paths to citizenship. Obama pledged during his discussion with the Register that he wants to pass immigration reform during a second term.
“I want get it done because it’s the right thing to do and I’ve cared about this ever since I ran back in 2008,” he said.
Obama discussed tax reform as well, saying, “a serious corporate tax reform agenda that’s revenue-neutral but lowers rates and broadens the base.” He also said that he wants to revisit the deal that almost succeeded during the 2011 summer showdown about the debt-ceiling.
“It will probably be messy,” Obama said in the Register interview. “It won’t be pleasant. But I am absolutely confident that we can get what is the equivalent of the grand bargain that essentially I’ve been offering to the Republicans for a very long time, which is $2.50 worth of cuts for every dollar in spending, and work to reduce the costs of our health care programs.”