So, Mr. Bush is insisting that his non-response to the Katrina disaster was not due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of those being shown on TV suffering were black.
That might be easier to accept if it hadn't been for the first five years of his presidency, during which he seemed to revel in promoting policies that made life worse for blacks, from his anti-affirmative-action stance (which he waited until Martin Luther King's birthday to announce), to his tax policy.
A few years back, a reporter asked him for his response to critics of his stance on civil rights. His response: well let`s see. There I was sitting around the leader - the table with foreign leaders looking at Colin Powell and Condi Rice.
Such tokenism has always been at the heart of Bush's efforts to portray himself as a "different kind of Republican," and are a manifestation of one of the worst kinds of racism. That he doesn't support
blatantly anti-black policies is of no import. Mr. Bush is racist -- in impact of not in intent.
Mr. Bush can not rescue his reputation with blacks, though it is doubtful that he cares about that anyway. More important to him would be helping the GOP in Congress retain its ever-diminishing share of the non-Southern white vote. Those voters can be turned-off by racist tones in policy, and they hold the key to the GOP's chances in the 2006 elections and to Mr. Bush's "legacy."
more thoughts at http://intelligencesquad.blogspot.com/...