From Words to Reality

No matter the outcome of the November election, the Republican Party and George W. Bush in particular ought to be kicking themselves for what might have been. Retired Gen. Colin L. Powell’s speech Monday night at the Philadelphia convention was yet another reminder of his dynamic presence and his important role in a party inching toward a make-over. Powell challenged his colleagues to make change more than cosmetic.

The public promotion versus the reality in this case is no small point. On the short list of those showcased at the convention are Powell and Elizabeth Dole, speaking in prime time, plus the GOP’s only openly gay member of Congress, Jim Kolbe of Arizona; add a slew of Latino officials, among them Hector Barreto, California co-chair of the Bush for President campaign, whose scheduled speech tonight will be laced with Spanish. Monday there were soul singers and camera pans of an audience that seemed worthy of the United Nations.

The reality is something else. Polls show that the delegates are 89% white, 6% Latino, 4% African American, 2% Asian American. While those numbers are roughly representative of GOP voters, they are less diverse than those for U.S. voters--81% white, 10% black, 6% Latino and 1% Asian American. The overall population is even more mixed.

Powell, going further than Bush did in his speech last month to the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said the party must “reach out to minority communities and particularly the African American community--and not just during an election-year campaign. It must be a sustained effort. It must be every day. It must be for real.

” . . . We must understand the cynicism that exists in the black community. The kind of cynicism that is created when, for example, some in our party miss no opportunity to roundly and loudly condemn affirmative action that helped a few thousand black kids get an education, but hardly a whimper is heard from them over affirmative action for lobbyists who load our federal tax codes with preferences for special interests. Overcoming the cynicism and mistrust that exists and raising up that mantle of Lincoln is about more than just winning votes. It is about giving all minorities a competitive choice.”

Between standing ovations, Powell was still the loyal party man. He gave his acknowledgment to Bush’s choice for running mate, Dick Cheney, whose facial expression seemed stuck between a tight smile and a grimace. Monday night was also the first major national address for Laura Bush, the candidate’s wife, whose well-modulated speech seemed designed, as CNN analyst Jeff Greenfield aptly noted, to put out one simple message: I am not Hillary.

Bush, to his credit, is attempting--though slowly, cautiously and inconsistently--to make the GOP a real option for a wider variety of voters. Let Powell’s challenge that the party make its stated commitment “for real” ring long after the cameras have been turned off.