Bush's strategy to win black votes bypasses NAACP
July 9, 2002, 1:57AM
By JULIE MASON
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A recent internal White House document outlining political strategy for the crucial midterm elections had just one entry under areas for improvement: African-Americans.
President Bush, still enjoying high approval ratings for his handling of the war on terrorism, has consistently failed to draw support among black voters at levels comparable to whites and Hispanics.
Now, with less than four months until the November election and control of the national agenda at stake, Bush is ratcheting up his appeal to black voters.
But the target audience for the new offensive is selective. This week, as the NAACP is meeting in Houston for its 93rd annual convention, Bush, who was invited to speak, will not be attending.
In declining the appearance, the White House cited a scheduling conflict.
Asked Monday to respond to criticism about his failure to attend the convention and his record on civil rights, Bush noted two high-profile black appointees in his administration.
"Let's see. There I was sitting around the ... table with foreign leaders looking at Colin Powell and Condi (Condoleezza) Rice," Bush said, referring to the secretary of state and national security adviser.
Still, the president's failure to attend the convention has been assailed by leaders of the NAACP, who noted that Bush found time to appear at their event when he was running for office.
"We've been rebuffed," said Kweisi Mfume, national president and CEO of the NAACP. "He came to the convention as a candidate but has declined two years in a row as president. We're one of many voices, but you cannot ignore the nation's oldest civil rights organization."
For the White House, sidestepping the more politically grounded, traditionally liberal civil rights groups like the NAACP is a key part of the strategy for narrowing the gap among black voters.
In search of a more receptive audience, Bush is taking his message of home ownership, welfare reform and faith-based initiatives directly to the African-American churches, service providers and others who may be more likely to embrace it.
"We've got to recognize there are some people in our country who wonder whether the American experience is meant for them," Bush said last week at an African-American church in Milwaukee. "It's one thing to make sure that we are secure, but we also have got to understand that in our plenty, there are pockets of despair and hopelessness."
In the last election, Bush lost 90 percent of the black vote to Democrat Al Gore. Recent polls show minorities overwhelmingly plan to vote for Democratic candidates in November.
Drawing more black support could help the administration deliver control of the Senate to the Republicans and help increase the party's majority in the House.
And siphoning off black voters from the Democratic Party could help Bush hold on to the White House in 2004.
While some black voters say they are receptive to Bush's overtures, others remain doubtful the administration can craft an agenda that serves both the political needs of the White House and the everyday concerns of black Americans.
"I don't want to pin everything on him, but it's all happening under his watch," said Thomas Jones, a Houston financial planner at McConnell, Jones, Lanier and Murphy.
For Jones and other African-Americans in the private sector, concerns about the economy under Bush resonate more deeply than GOP efforts to sell welfare reform or school vouchers.
"I'm sitting here now looking at portfolios on my screen, and it's horrible," Jones said. "If this economy does not improve significantly in the next few months, he could be a one-term president."
Soon after taking office last year, Bush appointed several high-profile black officials, including Powell, Rice and Education Secretary Rod Paige.
Bush launched a plan to provide public funding to faith-based social service programs, which polls showed had widespread support among blacks.
The efforts were in part aimed at addressing African-American distrust of the Bush administration in the wake of the 2000 presidential campaign.
Soon after Bush took office, a poll by the Gallup organization found 68 percent of blacks said they felt cheated by the election.
In the intervening months, however, the war on terrorism largely obliterated Bush's domestic agenda, including the faith-based initiative.
The war's drain on the federal budget is also forcing lawmakers to dramatically scale back funding for social services and other programs the White House had hoped would draw black support.
Melba Swafford, a Houston anesthesiologist who recently retired from The Methodist Hospital, said issues like faith-based funding remain the most important to her when deciding how to vote.
"I have some degree of financial security, but my roots are from an impoverished African-American background, where most of my family still resides," Swafford said. "I think the support for the under-served probably was a little better under (former President) Clinton, and I would prefer that more support go out."
The scaled-back faith-based funding proposal making its way through Congress would provide help primarily in the form of tax breaks for charitable contributions, with about $1.4 billion in grant money for social services programs.
"I hear people say on faith-based that they don't want it because it's `Republican money,' " said Dwight Boykins, director of governmental affairs at Texas Southern University.
Boykins, who spends time working with Republican lawmakers in both Austin and Washington, said he believes African-Americans who take such a hard line aren't seeing the big picture.
"I am a die-hard Democrat, and I am not a narrow-minded person. But I got an idea of the things that can be done, working with (Gov. Rick Perry's) Republican administration in Austin," Boykins said. "Perry signed a bill to make sure TSU received $114 million above normal appropriations. And those are the facts."
Boykins, a former candidate for Houston City Council who is expected to run again next year, said African-Americans could do a better job of capitalizing on the Republican Party's efforts to draw them in.
Still, there are numerous hurdles for Bush to overcome, including opposition from Democrats in Congress, entrenched skepticism among traditionally Democratic black voters, and a perception among many black Americans that the Republican Party is hostile to their interests.
Bush's efforts to bring black voters to his side using welfare reform also could fall short.
The plan favored by Bush and the GOP would freeze spending and increase work requirements for recipients. Democrats are calling for more spending on training, child care and other programs and less-stringent work minimums.
And there is also a division of opinion among black voters on school vouchers, an issue that Bush has begun touting to African-American audiences.
As part of that pitch, Bush is equating new educational opportunities available to minorities through voucher programs with school desegregation in the 1950s.
"The Bush folks are very aggressive about signalling they are not giving up on anybody," said Bruce Buchanan, professor of government at the University of Texas in Austin. "But Republicans have a natural disadvantage when it comes to policy."
Polls show that some elements of the war on terrorism also do not sit well with many black voters, such as law enforcement initiatives that turn back efforts to halt racial profiling.
Some of the Republican Party's rhetoric and positions also continue to turn black voters away.
"They think President Bush is a racist, dyed in the wool," said Limas Jefferson, chairman of the board of Unity National Bank in Houston. "I think it's the folk he surrounds himself with, not the words that come out of his mouth."
Jefferson, who said he is a Bush supporter, nevertheless shares the concerns of others about the economy, the impact of Bush's tax rebates on the budget and the prospects for black Americans under a Republican administration.
"We have the worst schools, we are the last hired and the first fired, and after 400 years in this country we still have no access to capital," Jefferson said. "I think President Bush is a good man, and if we would only change our own ways and reach out to him, he would definitely reach out to assist African-Americans. And we need that collaboration."
Chronicle reporter Patty Reinert contributed to this story.
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