President makes overtures to blacks

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President Bush's upcoming meeting with the Urban League, coupled with his snubbing of more-militant black groups, mirrors his outreach to moderate Palestinians while ignoring Yasser Arafat.

In both cases, Mr. Bush hopes to turn nearly hopeless relationships into constructive dialogues with groups not known for their fondness of conservatives.

But in the case of next week's meeting with the Urban League, the president is also seeking a more tangible political dividend, an increased share of the black vote in the 2004 election.

"The Republicans are not going to leave African-American voters to the Democrats this time," said Donna Brazile, who managed the 2000 presidential campaign of Vice President Al Gore. "I already sense a competitiveness, following the 2002 election, among Republicans.

"I've heard African-Americans say of Republicans: They're in our back yard," she added. "I say 'No, they're in our house.' They're still trying to figure out what it looks like, but they are competing for African-American votes. And I don't think that's a bad thing."

The president agreed to attend the five-day convention after a Democratic strategist quietly urged Urban League President Marc Morial to telephone Bush political strategist Karl Rove last week.

The strategist also assured Mr. Rove that the president wouldn't be walking "into the lion's den" -- a reference to the president's decision not to attend last week's conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The NAACP has been much more critical of Mr. Bush than the Urban League, even running a political ad in 2000 that had the daughter of dragging-death victim James Byrd saying of Mr. Bush's opposition to a hate-crimes bill: "It was like my father was killed all over again."

The NAACP even excoriated several Democratic presidential candidates for missing its conference.