why bush spoke to naacp

the decision was very likely calculated as follows:

election politics can't rely on appeal to a single constituency. vote totals are made up of a few votes here, a few there, and so on.

more african americans voted for bush in 2004 than in 2000.

some of them are still glad they did, and a significant number of those will vote republican this november.

others regret their choice. few of those will stay with the gop.

a group in between consists of those who have begun to wonder if they made a mistake. they remain open to reasons to justify what they did.

da prez aims to give them a justification.

since he's not running, alienating the racist portion of his base is a minor factor at most. holding on to a few black votes may help the gop retain some seats in congress.