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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill who wrote (269327)	7/2/2002 4:29:01 PM
From: J_F_Shepard	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

"Watts said he is pleased with what the Republicans have done for the United States since 1994," Oh really?? <http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/misc/spacer.gif> J. C. Watts, Into the Sunset [W] ith minority appointees in a variety of high-profile posts ? including Secretary of State Colin Powell, Housing Secretary Mel Martinez and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser ? George W. Bush has assembled the most racially diverse Republican administration in memory. The diversity of the executive branch, however, has underscored the whiteness of the Republican delegation in Congress, which has but one black member, Representative J. C. Watts of Oklahoma. He announced yesterday that he would not seek re-election in November. Mr. Watts, the fourth-ranking member of the House Republican leadership, said his goals in Congress had been accomplished and that he wished to spend more time with his family. Behind these bromides is a history of conflict between Mr. Watts and the party leadership over his own ambitions as well as the party's failure to reach out to minority candidates and voters. Mr. Watts was welcomed into the fold in 1994 by a virtually all-white party establishment that was eager to put a black face on conservative Gingrich-era policies that were hostile to minorities. But Mr. Watts, who grew up in a harshly segregated section of Oklahoma known as Little Dixie, was more intimate with the effects of discrimination ? and more sympathetic to affirmative action ? than party ideologues could stand. He was also sharply critical of the party for alienating black voters and for not encouraging minority lawmakers to aspire to leadership positions. Most recently, he considered running for majority leader ? the party's No. 2 leadership spot behind speaker of the House ? but backed off after the majority whip, Tom DeLay, became the favorite to win that job. The party of Trent Lott, the Senate minority leader, and Mr. DeLay has a long way to go to build a more diverse membership and leadership. nytimes.com