It sends the message
I'm sure Conservatives actually see the problem here because they seem more concerned with the message an action sends than the action itself.
For three years Bush has sent the Black civil rights community the message that their issues aren't important to him. That's an accurate representation of the Conservative position as far as I can see; they would like to separate the issues from the community and redefine them.
This election is critical to Democrats but important to Republicans as well. It's less of a crisis to Republicans because if repudiated by the real-world results of their decisions they will be able to blame the combination of "the war" and the collapse of the dot-com bubble. But it would still represent a tremendous setback for the neocon agenda…and we all know how tight the race is.
So l'il Georgie can't afford to alienate a single one of his core constituents. And a big part of Bush's appeal to his core is his unshakeable faith in what he's doing. Faith, the evidence of things unseen. Like success.
I digress.
Anyway, shots like this:
What do you expect? He's never spoken in front of a hostile crowd since taking the chair in the Oval Office. Still, it sends the message that even speaking to Black folks will endanger his standing with his core. Long term, he just made any rapproachment between Republicans and Black folks in general a lot less likely. Short term, forget about it.
THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Kerry Vows Not to Divide Nation by Race
The Democrat receives a rousing reception at the NAACP convention Bush decided to skip.
By Michael Finnegan
Times Staff Writer
July 16, 2004
PHILADELPHIA — Sen. John F. Kerry sought to capitalize Thursday on President Bush's refusal to speak to the NAACP, telling a national gathering of African Americans that he would "talk to all of the people" and not "divide our nation by race."
"The president may be too busy to speak to you now, but I've got news for you: He's going to have plenty of time after Nov. 2," Kerry told 3,000 cheering members of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People at the organization's 95th annual convention.
Since his election as president, Bush has rejected all speaking invitations from the NAACP, America's oldest civil rights group. White House officials this week cited "hostile" remarks about Bush by NAACP leaders as the reason, a rationale Kerry mocked in his remarks.
"As a campaigner," Kerry told the crowd, "I know something about scheduling conflicts and hostile environments. But you know what? When you're president of the United States, you can pretty much say where you want to be and when. When you're president, you need to talk to all of the people, and that's exactly what I intend to do."
From the moment he entered the convention hall, with the disco hit "We Are Family" booming from loudspeakers, the Massachusetts Democrat was greeted with cheers and standing ovations.
The NAACP stop was part of a concerted push by Kerry this week to build support among African Americans. A strong turnout of black voters is crucial to his prospects for carrying some of the nation's most closely divided states, among them Pennsylvania and Michigan.
An array of black Democrats has complained that Kerry has fallen short in appealing to minority voters, in part by putting too few blacks in the top ranks of his campaign.
The enthusiasm in the convention hall suggested at least some measure of success in Kerry's dual effort to bolster his support among blacks and to use Bush's absence to damage his already dismal standing among African Americans. (Nine out of 10 black voters sided against Bush in the 2000 election.)
That said, to my mind Kerry's statements aren't sufficient.
Not dividing isn't enough. Facilitating healing must be the goal. It's why Bush's "I'm a uniter not a divider" worked so well, and why he will suffer a backlash for failing to even make a gesture in that direction.
