Ray, how do you explain Bush's courting the blacks for their vote (You think maybe there are six blacks who believe him?)
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 3, 2002; Page A8
MILWAUKEE, July 2 – African Americans as a constituency are singularly suspicious about President Bush and his policies. Yet Bush, as he tries to revive his domestic legislative agenda, is making a flurry of appeals to black voters.
Today the president was in a black church on this city's low-income north side, urging action on his welfare reform proposal, his effort to boost "faith-based" charities, and his tax credits for home developers, casting all three in terms of their benefits to minorities. He told the mostly black crowd of 400 in a church auditorium that because of welfare reform, "the percentage of single black mothers working is the highest ever and poverty amongst black children is the lowest ever."
On Monday, in Cleveland, Bush celebrated the Supreme Court's endorsement of that city's private-school voucher program, equating its civil rights importance to school desegregation in the 1950s. "It's easy to walk into a classroom full of inner-city African Americans, for example, and say, 'You can't learn, we'll move you through,' " he said Monday. "We start with a different premise: Every child can learn, regardless of their circumstances."
The effort to appeal to African Americans faces long odds. On Monday, the only black Republican in Congress, Rep. J.C. Watts (Okla.), announced that he will retire. Only 10 percent of blacks supported Bush in the 2000 election, and though Bush is far more popular since Sept. 11 among all groups, a similar pattern continues.
In a new Washington Post poll, 40 percent of African Americans voiced support for Bush and 40 percent expressed disapproval. Among whites, 73 percent approved and 16 percent disapproved. A Gallup poll last month showed a plurality of black Americans still disapproving of Bush.
"They've got a lot of work to do," said Robert Woodson, a black conservative who consults with White House officials. Bush, Woodson said, is making a "concerted push" to drive a wedge between ordinary, church-going black Americans, who have conservative instincts, and civil rights leaders, who are more liberal. "Civil rights leaders are inalterably opposed" to Bush on vouchers, welfare and religious charities, Woodson said, but "those in the pews" feel otherwise.
Democrats say that strategy will not work. "Culturally, African Americans agree with President Bush on some of those issues," said Democratic tactician Donna Brazile, who managed Vice President Al Gore's 2000 campaign. "But they're not issues that turn out African American voters or persuade them to vote Republican. They don't look at the symbolism of the hour, but a long list of economic issues, and of course civil rights."
The prospects for Bush's domestic proposals this year are mixed, but generally poor. His plan for renewing the 1996 welfare law, which expires Sept. 30, faces dim prospects, Democrats and Republicans agree. Democrats are insisting on more spending and less stringent work requirements than Bush favors, and Bush himself has said the issue "may spill over" into next year.
His proposal to aid religious charities, though dramatically diminished from its original form, was approved by the Senate Finance Committee last week, and supporters expect a vote this month by the Senate. After that, "we're on the 18th green," said James Towey, who runs Bush's "faith-based" initiative. The key to passage is in Bush's ability to persuade House Republicans, who approved a broader initiative, to accept the Senate compromise. Bush today urged the two chambers to "reconcile any differences" in the legislation, which would allow charitable deductions for those who don't itemize their tax returns.
The president's appearance today at the Holy Redeemer Church of God in Christ was his second in two months to a largely black community in Wisconsin, a "swing" state important to his 2004 reelection campaign. Today's event was officially nonpolitical but had partisan flourishes. As participants filed in, they were handed stickers promoting GOP Gov. Scott McCallum's election in November.
Speaking at the 5,000-member church, beneath a banner that said "Working Towards Independence," Bush was joined by black religious leaders, including Gilbert E. Patterson of Memphis, presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ. After touring the church, which operates two schools in Milwaukee's voucher program, Bush sought to tie his social and foreign agendas into one. "It's one thing to make sure that we are secure, but we've also got to understand that, in our plenty, there are pockets of despair and hopelessness," he said.
Bush's visits to Cleveland and Milwaukee contained direct and indirect racial themes, including singling out black audience members to make his policy points. While introducing Bush today, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson mentioned private-school vouchers and "how important it is for minority and poor children."
Bush, too, offered more praise for last week's Supreme Court ruling on vouchers, though he emphasized welfare reform, which he called "liberation from dependency." Repeatedly, he returned to race. Reviving his proposals for home ownership, he said: "Seventy-five percent of Anglos or white people own their homes; less than 50 percent of minorities own their homes. That's a gap that needs to change." |
