BUSH THROWS SCARE INTO DEMOCRATS BY SPEAKING TO NAACP

Can you imagine the dramatic change that would occur in the landscape of presidential politics if Republicans could just persuade a small portion of the black population to break ranks with the Democratic Party? Al Gore can.

Democratic presidential candidates are completely dependent on landslide majorities from black voters. In 1992, President Bush garnered only 12 percent of the black vote. In 1996, Dole managed 14 percent. Today most polls show Gore getting the support of more than 80 percent of black voters.

That's why Gore is more than a bit nervous that Bush accepted the NAACP's invitation to speak at its annual convention. The last two Republican presidential candidates declined.

Hillary Clinton appeared uneasy about Bush's territorial encroachment too. When addressing the convention, she cautioned those present to be wary of Bush's empty words. In fact Hillary and Al must have conspired about this, because they mouthed nearly identical talking points. Hillary said, "Watch what they do, not what they say." Gore said, "His words are not matched by his deeds." They are worried because Bush is making good on his promise to fight Al Gore for every last vote. He's honoring his pledge not to write off the black vote just because Republicans have had difficulty with it in the past.

Al and Hillary are also worried because Bush comes off as a person who really does care about the plight of blacks. It won't be easy for Democrats to paint the compassionate conservative as an uncaring racist. Bush, by the way, did provide some evidence to back up his words. "And I am especially proud of this fact: that African-American fourth graders in the state of Texas have better math skills than any other students -- in any state in the United States of America." Bush's words have them worried as well. It is instructive to compare Bush's NAACP speech to Gore's. While Bush discussed a greater federal role in some policy areas than most Republicans have in the past, he stressed themes of opportunity instead of federal handouts.

Bush talked about advancing racial harmony and economic opportunity. He invoked a few of his now-familiar slogans, which smack of free enterprise rather than socialism. "The purpose of prosperity is to ensure the American dream touches every willing heart." The emphasis is on "willing." To Bush, the American dream obviously involves freedom, opportunity and achievement, not transfer payments and security.

Bush's other slogan is also more than lofty rhetoric. "I will confront another form of bias: the soft bigotry of low expectations." Whether or not Gore realizes it, his agenda of treating the federal government as a glorified candy store is all about the bigotry of low expectations. When he makes the outlandish promise that every child in America will have full health care within the next four years; when he virtually pledges to make affirmative action a permanent institution in America, he's telling blacks that he has low expectations of them.

Bush's message was more about empowering blacks than promising them endless federal initiatives in exchange for their votes. He advocated accountability and competition in education with vouchers and school choice while Gore vowed to protect government-subsidized incompetence in education.

For his part, Gore resorted to his familiar scare-mongering and race-baiting tactics. He said Republicans wanted to block statistical census counting because they didn't want all blacks to be counted. Inexplicably, he implied that hate crime legislation would "stamp out the sparks of hatred." He railed about the Confederate flag. He said the "far right" wanted to stack the Supreme Court with justices who would threaten civil rights and civil liberties. I couldn't help but wonder whether he was thinking about the Fourth Amendment rights of Elian Gonzalez' Miami relatives or the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas.

Maybe I'm naive, but I keep hoping this kind of pandering and patronizing will one day wear thin among substantial numbers of black voters. It's hard for me to imagine that some NAACP members didn't either bristle or snicker when Gore said, "I have made more trips to Africa than I've made to Asia." Who knows? Bush just may be making some inroads into traditional Democratic territory. Can you really blame Al and Hillary for being a little scared?

~David Limbaugh of Cape Girardeau is a columnist for Creators Syndicate.