That was the topic du jour at a jam-packed symposium at the conservative Heritage Foundation here in D.C. on Tuesday. Six black Republicans had assembled to chew on the issue. They didn't come up with much, certainly not much specifically geared toward African Americans. Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell said Bush needs to expand school choice and cut taxes. It's not that they love Democrats, it's that they hate Republicans.
Republicans make the mistake of thinking they can attract blacks solely with pocketbook issues.
It's just that their issues were different from white folks. From 1968 on, the only ones paying attention to them were the Democrats. At least on a symbolic level, George W. Bush certainly did much to welcome blacks. But he did other things to repel them. In an attempt to reach out to conservatives, he spoke at Bob Jones University, which until recently prohibited interracial dating.