Jindal: Romney Is ‘Absolutely Wrong’ Saying Obama Won Re-Election With ‘Gifts’

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday said fellow Republican Mitt Romney is “absolutely wrong” for holding the notion that President Barack Obama won re-election by offering “gifts” to minorities.

In explaining his election loss, Romney, the GOP’s presidential nominee, said the Obama administration had been “very generous” to African-Americans, Latinos and young voters.

Obama won the minority vote by a crushing margin over his challenger. Among African-Americans it was 93 percent; 71 percent of Latinos supported the president, and 60 percent of voters between ages 18 to 29 went Democratic.

“With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college-loan interest was a big gift,” Romney said during a conference call with donors, according to the New York Times. “Free contraceptives were very big with young, college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents' plan, and that was a big gift to young people.”

Soon after, top Republican governors began distancing themselves from Romney’s comments. They said the GOP’s failure to unseat Obama was a result of its lack of specifics on the vision for the country, a poor ground game by the campaign and its inability to explain the party’s beliefs, among other things.

At the Republican Governors Association’s annual meeting, Jindal said Romney’s assessment of the election loss doesn’t represent the party’s thinking.

“No, I think that’s absolutely wrong,” Jindal said. “Two points on that: One, we have got to stop dividing the American voters. We need to go after 100 percent of the votes, not 53 percent. We need to go after every single vote.

“And, secondly, we need to continue to show how our policies help every voter out there achieve the American Dream, which is to be in the middle class, which is to be able to give their children an opportunity to be able to get a great education,” he added. “So, I absolutely reject that notion, that description. I think that’s absolutely wrong.”

Jindal, who was seemingly angry over Romney’s previous “47 percent” remarks, said the party clearly got beat and it should accept that fact.

Other governors who may likely seek the White House in 2016 are busy creating a vision for the Republican Party.

“We need to figure out what we did right and what we did wrong, how we can improve our tone, our message, our technology, our turnout -- all the things that are required to win elections,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell told the Associated Press. “We are disappointed, but we are not discouraged.”