WASHINGTON, July 15 (UPI) -- Race shot to the fore in the presidential campaign Thursday with Democratic standard-bearer Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts tweaking President George W. Bush for shunning the NAACP's annual convention and the White House defending the president's record on civil rights.
Bush, officially not appearing at the Philadelphia event because of scheduling conflicts, had earlier made it plain he saw no point in addressing the group, which savaged him in terms he found personally offensive in the 2000 campaign.
"As a campaigner, I know a little something about scheduling conflicts and hostile environments," Kerry told a cheering NAACP audience in Philadelphia. "But when you're president of the United States, you can pretty much say where you want to be. And when you're president, you need to talk to all the people -- and that's exactly what I intend to do.
"I will be a president who truly is a uniter, not one who seeks to divide our nation by race, riches or any other label. You know, the president may be too busy to speak to you now, but I assure you, he'll have plenty of free time after November 2nd."
Bush last spoke to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 2000.
"Mr. Bush has now distinguished himself as the first president since Warren Harding who has not met with the NAACP," organization President Kweisi Mfume, was quoted recently in the Wilmington (N.C.) Journal. "So, we've got a 95-year history and a president that's prepared to take us back to the days of Jim Crow segregation and dominance, an era where dialogue is required, not distance."
The White House this week said Bush, although not appearing at the NAACP affair, would be attending next week's annual convention of the National Urban League in Detroit.
"The president has great respect for the NAACP and its long and proud history championing civil rights," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday.
"The president reaches out to African-Americans all the time, as he does to all Americans ... (but) the president believes it's important to have a constructive dialogue that brings Americans together around shared priorities. Unfortunately, the current leadership (of the NAACP) has just shown they are not interested in having a constructive dialogue by continuing to engage in harsh political rhetoric."
The NAACP's chief officers are Mfume, a former Democratic congressman, and Julian Bond, a scholar and veteran civil-rights activist who cut his teeth during the civil-rights movement in the 1960s.
Both have charged Bush and right-wing conservatives with ignoring civil rights and hurting black Americans thorough conservative political, social and economic policies.
McClellan Thursday pointed to education reform with its stricture for results and accountability, combating "the soft bigotry of expectations," as an example of Bush's commitment to rights for all. He also noted Bush policies leading to more minority homeownership, tax cuts, AIDS funding and faith-based community funding outreach.
"As I pointed out," he said, "this administration was the first to ban racial profiling in federal law enforcement."
Bush garnered less than 10 percent of the black vote in the 2000 election. In Florida, the scene of the bitterest scene of ballot recounting, there were accusations that some blacks were prevented from voting.
Bush-Cheney campaign officials say they are actively engaged in outreach efforts.
Kerry Thursday renewed efforts to address the problems of black America if elected.
"Today, we have an administration in Washington that looks at the challenges we face here and around the world and says this is the best we can do. They say what we have now is the best economy of our lifetimes," he said. "Don't tell us 1.8 million lost jobs is the best we can do, when we can create millions of new jobs. We can do better ... and we will.
"Don't tell us unemployment is not a problem, when we see that African-American unemployment is now above 10 percent -- double the rate for whites. Don't tell us we have to accept racial profiling, hate crimes or the assault by right-wing judges on our precious civil-rights progress. We can do better and we will.
"Don't tell us that in the strongest democracy on Earth, a million disenfranchised African-Americans and the most tainted election in history is the best we can do. We can do better ... and we will," Kerry said.
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