Rand Paul Depression Speech: What Did Senator Paul Say About Why The GOP Fell Out Of Favor With African-Americans?

In a speech at a historically black Howard University on Wednesday, Republican Senator Rand Paul made a pitch to an audience of mostly students, defending the GOP while acknowledging the party's failure to connect with African-American voters. The past two presidential elections have seen a dramatic majority of black voters opt for Barack Obama, a Democrat, over his Republican opponents.

At stake in Senator Paul's speech was the question of how, as he put it, "the party that elected the first black U.S. senator, the party that elected the first 20 African American congressmen, [became] a party that now loses 95 percent of the black vote?" President Obama won 93 percent of the African American vote in last year's presidential elections, and 95 percent in 2008.

One fragment of the speech -- an account of measures taken by then-president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democratic Party as the country found itself in the midst of the Great Depression -- attributed African-American support for Democrats of that era to the party's promise of "equalizing outcomes through unlimited federal assistance while Republicans offered something that seemed less tangible-the promise of equalizing opportunity through free markets." He added that African-Americans of the era were "impatient for economic emancipation."

Notably absent from the senator's speech was any mention of the infamous "Southern Strategy," a civil-rights-era political strategy in which the Republican Party was seen to appeal to white racism against blacks in order to gain support among Southern whites. In 2005, Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman apologized for his party's use of the tactic.

Senator Paul also highlighted stances of his seen as somewhat unorthodox for a Republican, including his support for drug law reform and his opposition to mandatory minimum sentences in convictions for non-violent drug offenders. He also argued in support of school choice reform and against raising taxes on the rich.

Commenting on what many took in 2010 to be a belief that private businesses should not be forced to abide by civil rights laws, Paul said, "No Republican questions or disputes civil rights. I have never wavered in my support for civil rights or the Civil Rights Act. The dispute, if there is one, has always been about how much of the remedy should come under federal or state or private purview."

His address comes weeks after the Republican National Committee announced it would spend $10 million on staff members to communicate conservative principles in cities across the US, part of a new effort to better connect with minority voters.

The Wall Street Journal has posted the full text of Senator Paul's speech, along with a video link.