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Thursday, July 20, 2006
Bush and the NAACP
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
President Bush makes his first appearance today before the NAACP’s national convention, something he has avoided. That’s in large part because the organization is the Democratic Party’s proxy. Speaking to them is about like speaking to the Democratic National Convention. The President’s likely to get no regard, much credit, nor any converts. His appearance, meanwhile, will give critics there a platform to talk about what sorry shape the nation’s in under a George Bush presidency. I’ve never quite understood why a Republican President so despised by the likes of NAACP board chairman Julian Bond should validate the aging organization’s contemporary importance with his presence.
Certainly, this Republican and all to follow should make every effort to reach out to African-Americans and attempt to persuade them that conservativism is an appealing alternative. But it’s not necessary, nor is it very productive, to do that by speaking through a hostile filter, through an organization whose members would rejoice at his defeat. Far better, instead, to choose forums — an organization active in faith-based partnerships, for example, or one like 100 Black Men or the Urban League — that are more neutral and, better still, engaged in work that builds stronger communties.
There’s a lesson here. There’s simply no gain in delivering messages through hostile filters — a lawyers group working against tort reform or a seniors group opposed to Social Security reform are other examples. Unless, of course, the address is to explain to members how their leaders are not serving their best interests or the nation’s. All Bush will have done, otherwise, is confirm their importance, further elevating the significance of, and audience for, their criticism.
Bush certainly is president for all Americans, including those who belong to groups that despise him. But being their president does not mean being their punching bag. He has nothing to gain or fear in venturing there. The message this speech sends, however, the wrong message, is that in talking to black America, it’s necessary to speak through an organization that wishes him no good.
