Good (news) Friday: Bush finally addresses the NAACP…

I know, I know: finding good news these days might be difficult, but this is ridiculous…right?I appreciate why his critics argue that, despite being linked to the racially-motivated murder of James Byrd (in a NAACP political ad in 2000) and called every vile name imaginable by its leaders, President George W. Bush should still have accepted the standing invitation to address the NAACP long ago.

Nonetheless, I commend Bruce S. Gordon – who was elected president of this civil rights organization just last year – for extending a hand of reconciliation to Bush. I commend Bush for accepting it. And I do not care what ulterior motives may have inspired them.

Because the good news is that it redounds to the nation’s benefit for there to always be meaningful political dialogue – based on mutual respect – between the NAACP and the president of the United States, regardless if the president is a Democrat or Republican. And the symbolism of the president paying homage – as Bush did yesterday – affirms the social, political and historical importance of this fact.

Of course, partisan politics in America today are such that no one expected Bush to say anything that would change the unfavorable opinion 90% of the NAACP delegates have of him (and his Republican Party). And, in this respect, his address and their reception to it (and him) were entirely predictable. But it takes a truly enlightened black leader, like Mr Gordon, to appreciate that this visceral antipathy towards Bush and his party is more a problem for the NAACP (and blacks) than it is for the Republican Party and Bush:

Because the NAACP has tethered the political fortunes of blacks to the Democratic Party like a Lilliputian cord of obligation – where it serves more as a political tool of the party than as a civil rights advocate for the “advancement of colored people.” Yet, for several election cycles now, the general consensus – even amongst loyal black Democrats – has been that their party takes them for granted. Therefore, it behooves blacks to seek and exploit more common cause with the Republican party, if only to force the Democratic Party to pay a more respectable political price for their loyal support.

Meanwhile, even though it is doing more than ever court the black vote, the Republican Party is nurturing a bond with Hispanics that may prove an even more dependable “race card” than the one the Democratic Party has played, using blacks, for decades….

Finally, it is undeniable that – no matter the reception – Bush got all his architect, Karl Rove, designed for him to get by just showing up: it’s the legacy stupid! And now Bush has precluded historians from citing the black mark on his presidency of having refused to address the nation’s oldest civil rights organization during his two terms.

NOTE: The U.S. Congress voted last week to ban all forms of online gaming. Click here to read my CNN article on what this portends for online-gaming operators who thought Caribbean countries offered them safe havens beyond the long arm of U.S. laws.

President Bush NAACP Address