Vice President Joe Biden was cheered by the crowd during the convention of the NAACP, which is the nation’s biggest civil rights group. He defended President Barack Obama’s record and warned that if Republican Mitt Romney is elected into office, it could reverse years of civil rights and economic gains for blacks. NAACP

The vice president made the speech a day after Romney was booed during an appearance before the same group. Biden asked the crowd to imagine what it would be like if the conservative Romney manages to be the president. He added that the Republican Party today is not their father’s Republican Party.

Vice President Biden criticized the Republicans for supporting voter ID laws that can potentially disenfranchise a lot of black voters. He said that when a person has the right to vote, that person has the right to change things.

Romney was booed from the NAACP audience last Wednesday for criticizing President Obama’s healthcare reform measure as well as his leadership on the economy. He promised that he could improve life for blacks by improving the economy as well as decrease the unemployment rate. At present the unemployment rate for black is 14.4 percent compared to the national average of 8.2 percent.

Biden said that President Obama had made tough decisions in order to improve the economy out of the recession via his economic stimulus plan and auto industry bailout. Biden said that the president continues to be driven by his convictions.

Blacks have been the most reliable Democratic voting bloc. During the 2008 presidential elections, more than 95 percent of blacks supported Obama. Recent polls show that the incumbent president has similar levels of support among the African American voters this year.

President Obama, the first black US president, didn’t attend the NAACP convention this year and asked his vice president to go instead. He appeared through a taped video message and said that he will address the National Urban League later this month.