Wednesday, July 16, 2008
POLITICS AS USUAL: MCCAIN LOOKING TO APPEAL TO MORE COLORED WITH HIS ADDRESS TO THE NAACP
Posted by THE fly GIRL at 10:31 AM
Sen. John McCain is looking to close a wide divide on race as he speaks before the NAACP convention Wednesday.
Polls show black voters heavily favor Democratic candidate Barack Obama -- with about 90 percent picking him over McCain.
Republican candidates historically do not win much of the black vote. President Bush received just 11 percent of the black vote when he ran against John Kerry in 2004.
Still, McCain aides insist that he can make gains among the black electorate.
As part of his outreach to African-American voters, McCain will tell the NAACP he will work to improve education for minorities.
"Education reform has long been a priority of the NAACP, and for good reason. For all the best efforts of teachers and administrators, the worst problems of our public school system are often found in black communities," he will say, according to excerpts released by his campaign.
"Black and Latino students are among the most likely to drop out of high school. African-Americans are also among the least likely to go on to college. After decades of hearing the same big promises from the public education establishment, and seeing the same poor results, it is surely time to shake off old ways and to demand new reforms. That isn't just my opinion; it is the conviction of parents in poor neighborhoods across this nation who want better lives for their children."
McCain will tell that crowd that if he becomes president, he will make sure that parents are allowed to pick which school their children attend -- whether it is a better public school, a private school or a charter school.
The senator from Arizona is expected to tell those at the Cincinnati, Ohio, convention that he seeks their vote and hopes to earn it, but even without their support, he needs their "goodwill and counsel."
"I have always known we can build a better America, where no place or person is left without hope or opportunity by the sins of injustice or indifference. It would be among the great privileges of my life to work with you in that cause," he will say, according to the excerpts.
Obama spoke before the crowd on Monday and said while he was "glad to hear" McCain would be speaking about education, he accused McCain of offering "little more than the same tired rhetoric about vouchers."
During his speech, the senator from Illinois emphasized personal responsibility.
"Now, I know there's some who've been saying I've been too tough talking about responsibility. But here at the NAACP, I'm here to report I'm not going to stop talking about it. Because ... no matter how many 10-point plans we propose, or how many government programs we launch -- none of it will make any difference if we don't seize more responsibility in our own lives," he said.
Obama's speech was his first time in front of a large black organization since Jesse Jackson apologized for suggesting that Obama talks down to African- Americans.
Jackson was referring to Obama chastising black fathers for not doing enough for their children during a Father's Day speech and making "faith-based initiatives" part of his campaign platform.
The incident was the latest of several in which the issue of Obama's relationship with the African-American community has become a part of the campaign, raised either by opponents or by Obama's allies.
McCain's relationship with the black community also has been rocky at times. He initially voted against the Martin Luther King holiday, and he was booed in Memphis last spring when he tried to apologize.
But he was the first Republican candidate to visit the site of the famous civil rights march in Selma, Alabama.
Aides say that visit, like addressing the NAACP, is part of McCain's broader, different-kind-of-Republican pitch.
"I know I have to compete hard for the African-American vote. I have no illusions about that," McCain said earlier this year.
A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted July 7-14 found that black voters favor Obama over McCain, 89 to 2 percent.
The poll surveyed 1,796 people and has a margin of error of plus or minus six percentage points among the minority samples.
CNN.com
Polls show black voters heavily favor Democratic candidate Barack Obama -- with about 90 percent picking him over McCain.
Republican candidates historically do not win much of the black vote. President Bush received just 11 percent of the black vote when he ran against John Kerry in 2004.
Still, McCain aides insist that he can make gains among the black electorate.
As part of his outreach to African-American voters, McCain will tell the NAACP he will work to improve education for minorities.
"Education reform has long been a priority of the NAACP, and for good reason. For all the best efforts of teachers and administrators, the worst problems of our public school system are often found in black communities," he will say, according to excerpts released by his campaign.
"Black and Latino students are among the most likely to drop out of high school. African-Americans are also among the least likely to go on to college. After decades of hearing the same big promises from the public education establishment, and seeing the same poor results, it is surely time to shake off old ways and to demand new reforms. That isn't just my opinion; it is the conviction of parents in poor neighborhoods across this nation who want better lives for their children."
McCain will tell that crowd that if he becomes president, he will make sure that parents are allowed to pick which school their children attend -- whether it is a better public school, a private school or a charter school.
The senator from Arizona is expected to tell those at the Cincinnati, Ohio, convention that he seeks their vote and hopes to earn it, but even without their support, he needs their "goodwill and counsel."
"I have always known we can build a better America, where no place or person is left without hope or opportunity by the sins of injustice or indifference. It would be among the great privileges of my life to work with you in that cause," he will say, according to the excerpts.
Obama spoke before the crowd on Monday and said while he was "glad to hear" McCain would be speaking about education, he accused McCain of offering "little more than the same tired rhetoric about vouchers."
During his speech, the senator from Illinois emphasized personal responsibility.
"Now, I know there's some who've been saying I've been too tough talking about responsibility. But here at the NAACP, I'm here to report I'm not going to stop talking about it. Because ... no matter how many 10-point plans we propose, or how many government programs we launch -- none of it will make any difference if we don't seize more responsibility in our own lives," he said.
Obama's speech was his first time in front of a large black organization since Jesse Jackson apologized for suggesting that Obama talks down to African- Americans.
Jackson was referring to Obama chastising black fathers for not doing enough for their children during a Father's Day speech and making "faith-based initiatives" part of his campaign platform.
The incident was the latest of several in which the issue of Obama's relationship with the African-American community has become a part of the campaign, raised either by opponents or by Obama's allies.
McCain's relationship with the black community also has been rocky at times. He initially voted against the Martin Luther King holiday, and he was booed in Memphis last spring when he tried to apologize.
But he was the first Republican candidate to visit the site of the famous civil rights march in Selma, Alabama.
Aides say that visit, like addressing the NAACP, is part of McCain's broader, different-kind-of-Republican pitch.
"I know I have to compete hard for the African-American vote. I have no illusions about that," McCain said earlier this year.
A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted July 7-14 found that black voters favor Obama over McCain, 89 to 2 percent.
The poll surveyed 1,796 people and has a margin of error of plus or minus six percentage points among the minority samples.
CNN.com
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