W. turns down invite to speak at NAACP convention

[mburbank]

Okay;

the NAACP is not a 'club'. Like them or not, Nixon, Reagan, And Bush snr. all paid their respects. Were those guys less savy than W? Or more phony? Or less colorblind? Or more synical? Or more, to use a Vinthism I really like, more 'pussified'? The ONLY argument you're making that would make a W. pass for his entire presidency is that the NAACP is significantly less relevant now than it was during his Dad's administration.

The fact that he's speaking to other black venues doesn't change that he's the the first President since Hoover to skip the NAACP.

Now, say, if he'd given a reason, I might even get behind that myself. But his official, stated reason is "Schedule conflicts". That's cowardly and it's a deliberate snub. It's washingtonspeak for 'screw you' said quietly enough not to alientate swing voters.

As far as the fate of American Blacks go. they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Dems take them for granted as a voting block and Republican policy actually damages them (when seen as a constituency, but that is what we're talking about here, no?).

So, do you go with the party that ignores you or the party that actively undermines you? It's a hard choice and one of the many, many reasons I'm very glad I was born white, the same kind of luck that had me born middle class and American.