The first foreign head of state to meet with a senior Bush administration official will be Congo President Joseph Kabila, who meets with Powell today. Ford, for example, conceded yesterday that Bush's faith-based initiative would help his constituents. For all that, Bush's target is at best a skeptical audience. African Americans voted 9-1 against Bush, a man who refused, during his presidential campaign, to condemn the flying of the Confederate battle flag over South Carolina's state Capitol, who visited a university that banned interracial dating, and who ultimately won thanks to a disputed Florida vote in which many believe that African Americans were disproportionately disenfranchised. Up against that kind of animosity, Bush may find it will take more than symbolic gestures on his part.
Black people laugh at that stuff now.
We're not crazy. We're not fools. White House aides acknowledge that Bush risks having his hand slapped as he extends it to African Americans. But they say the effort is worth it as part of an overall style of reaching out to all Americans, and deny that he is angling to improve his own political chances. He is going to be the president for all people in this country, no matter whether they voted for him or not.