"should have pandered more "
You mean like the Repubs did at their convention in 2000?
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Republican Convention Philadelphia 2000 / Parade of diversity no sign GOP has changed, foes say / Supporters say it's a step in the right direction
LORI RODRIGUEZ, Houston Chronicle MinorityAffairs Writer, LISA TEACHEY Staff FRI 08/04/2000 Houston Chronicle, Section A, Page 26, 3 STAR Edition
PHILADELPHIA - From the opening night speech Monday by Colin Powell to a key role Thursday for Houston's Kirbyjon Caldwell, the Republican Party strained mightily to put its best and most diverse face forward this week. There was the retired Army general chiding his party for its anti-affirmative action position; the chief national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, speaking glowingly about the Republican presidential nominee, George W. Bush.
There was Caldwell, the pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, earnestly introducing Bush as a man who will lift all economic boats as Democrats have not. There were black singers, black dancers, black children, black preachers, a veritable army of black speakers.
By no means least, there was the ubiquitous black U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., speaking from the podium, mingling at fund-raisers, being honored at a gala and, just hours before Bush accepted the nomination, holding a press conference to defend the parade of color.
"What you are seeing does not necessarily reflect our past. What you are seeing does not necessarily reflect our present," said Watts, surrounded by several dozen African-American supporters.
"What it does do is reflect our future."
Flanked by as many African-Americans as were seen together throughout the convention, Watts called the convention the start of a massive Republican Party effort to expand its minority base. "This is only the beginning," said Watts, announcing a new outreach Web site called Talk2Us2000.com.
Critics were unimpressed. Even as the GOP was preparing to anoint Bush, the Rev. Al Sharpton was hammering the conferees for false advertising. Calling the proceedings "a cosmetic production," Sharpton pointed out that only 4 percent of the GOP delegates here are black.
"It seems like all 4 percent of them were given keynote addresses," Sharpton said.
However much Republican Party leaders succeeded in banishing their most right-wing and racially divisive elements from center stage here, the reality is that the 2000 convention still looked very much like the 1996 and 1992 conventions.
"Blacks still are largely Democratic, and that is not going to change anytime soon, no matter what the Republican Party does," said David Bositis, senior analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank.
"That is what has made them such an important voter bloc. Democrats have had to rely significantly on the black population for success, and that is not going to change, either."
Republicans under the Bush banner are not necessarily aiming for a significantly larger slice of the black electorate, said Bositis. "They're after the moderate voters, the independents, the whites who are turned off by the party's intolerant and insensitive image."
If they also pick up at least some additional black votes, said Bositis, so much the better. Blacks were 10 percent of the 1998 electorate, the bulk concentrated in 22 states where they potentially can swing elections.
There also has been some genuine GOP progress. Black delegates this year numbered 85, not much considering a total of 2,066, but a 63 percent increase over the 52 black delegates four years ago.
Watts, deputy permanent co-chair of the convention, Thursday promised to personally try to triple the number of black delegates to the 2004 convention. A Bush presidency is a key first step, he said. Houston's Caldwell, who has faced considerable heat from some of his black congregants for appearing here, agrees.
"My speaking at the convention tonight has been a lightning rod for information and sharing," said Caldwell optimistically. "Never in the history of the Republican convention and maybe never in the history of the Democratic convention have so many Houstonians paid such close attention.
"If nothing else, it's going to help us take a more serious and balanced look at the issues instead of just walking into the booth and pulling a big lever. Let's look at what the candidates are saying.
"Vote for the program and the plan, as opposed to the party and the politics." |
