Bush: Good Words, Now Action

For presumptive Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush, his appearance before the NAACP convention in Baltimore Monday was all about context. In the context of the many Republican leaders who have sent the message that the party of Lincoln did not welcome African Americans, Bush sent an important counter-message just by showing up.

Four years ago, Bob Dole, the GOP standard-bearer, snubbed the nation’s oldest civil rights group, citing a scheduling conflict and claiming that an appearance before the largely Democratic delegates would be a “setup.”

The enmity between most black voters and Republicans runs much deeper than traditional party loyalties. The hard feelings have been especially acute since the Reagan Revolution, led by a president who said with a straight face that he remembered a time when this country didn’t know it had a racial problem. George W. Bush’s father, former President Bush, long supported historically black colleges and spoke at two conventions of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. But it was also the elder Bush who replaced a certified hero of the civil rights movement, Justice Thurgood Marshall, with the accomplishment-challenged Clarence Thomas. So George W. Bush knew that he walked into the convention with heavy baggage, and he wisely walked in anyway.

“My party, the party of Lincoln, has not always carried the mantle of Lincoln,” Bush said. “Before we can look at the future, we must recognize our past. . . . I’m here because I believe there is so much we can do together to advance racial harmony.” He promised that “strong civil rights enforcement will be a cornerstone” of his administration.

These are healing words. Now Bush must keep in mind that most Americans take more from actions. When Bush, as governor, took down Confederate plaques from the Texas Supreme Court Building, he demonstrated that words and symbols have meaning and acknowledged that inclusion means letting go of racist symbols disguised as heritage. But when Bush ducked taking the same principled stand in South Carolina, hiding behind the racially loaded “state’s rights” argument, his credibility as a racial healer took a slide.

George W. Bush has taken a small but potentially significant step for the GOP. Real competition for black votes would be healthy for African Americans and national politics. If Bush can do more than merely talk about what it means to be the party of Lincoln, he will have done the nation a great service.