Cheers to President Bush for finally accepting an invitation to speak in front of the NAACP. I don't fault him at all for refusing to do so in the past as his words have been twisted in every possible way by the NAACP and leaders in the "Black" community. It wasn't long after his previous appearance that attack ads were aired with the backing of the NAACP and those leaders that helped to further stereotypes and impressions that George W. Bush is nuthin' but a hater and he weren't gonna help no Black man (or woman).
Still, the President accepted the latest invitation and by most accounts seems to have done a good job in his speech. Good enough that most main stream media hasn't bothered to really even comment on it. (That's where/when you can tell that the President has done well, when the MSM can't be bothered to address the news at all since they know it would be considered a positive thing).
The summaries of the speech in the Washington Times included the President's quote "I want to change the relationship" [ with the NAACP and persons of color ], and the Presidents statements that he wants to work with Black leaders on issues where they agree on goals. Areas singled out included homeownership, education and AIDS (among others).
I'm glad to see the President acknowledging that the Republican party hasn't done an adequate job of working with minorities, saying about the recent history of the GOP interaction with Black voters "a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln let go of its historic ties with the African-American community." Part of that problem does lie directly in the hands of the Republican party and its leadership. Most certainly the party hasn't been as friendly to Blacks and other minorities as they could be, or at the very least hasn't communicated well at all with the Black community to help work through issues where the Black community and the GOP share similar goals and differ only slightly on how to achieve the goals.
The Washington Times article on the speech notes it was interrupted once by a heckler associated with perennial whack job Lyndon LaRouche, but otherwise things seemed pretty positive.
There was a note that when President Bush talked about school choice -- something that should be a big positive for the Black community (and which should offer most families the option to help get better educations for their children) -- there were smatterings of applause along with some booing and head shaking by others in the crowd that continue to buy the Democrat/liberal schools of thought about education: throw more money at the problem in all areas, rather than demanding results and perhaps closing failing schools or handing control of them over to others that can make the necessary changes and fix the problems.
Sadly, even as the speech was under way, there were news headlines saying that Senator Obama was telling the Black community not to be hoodwinked by anything the President may say, and the usual cast of clowns -- including Jesse "Shakedown artist extrordinaire" Jackson and Al Sharpton -- said of course that they want to see results and generally don't expect any from this President.
Will things perhaps improve in the relationship between the GOP and the Black community? Maybe. It really depends a lot on both groups though, doesn't it?
