Bush and the NAACP

WHEN THE presidency of George W. Bush enters the history books, he won't be remembered as a leader who helped bridge the nation's racial divide. For all Bush's talk of being a uniter, this has been a presidency stained by a weakening of the Justice Department's civil rights arm, threats to minority voting rights, and the ugly racial undercurrents of Hurricane Katrina. In his record on race, one blemish has separated Bush from every president since Herbert Hoover: During his time in office, he has rejected invitations to address the oldest and most recognized civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

That distinction will end today, when Bush, after months of negotiations between NAACP leaders and the White House, will address the group in Washington. It's doubtless no coincidence that the thawing of relations comes in an election year and at a time when Bush enters legacy mode in the twilight of his presidency. But after six years of bad blood between him and one of black America's leading voices, this is a detente that is long overdue.

Things got ugly early between the NAACP and Bush the candidate in 2000, when the group ran an anti-Bush ad featuring the daughter of James Byrd Jr., a black Texas man who was tied to a pickup truck and dragged to his death by three white men. In 2004, a blistering attack of Bush's policies by NAACP board chairman Julian Bond prompted an IRS inquiry into the group's nonpartisan tax-exempt status. NAACP leaders blasted the inquiry as political payback. Until now, Bush has frozen the group out entirely, agreeing to meet with the National Urban League and conservative black clergy and corporate leaders instead.

Enter Bruce S. Gordon, a former Verizon executive who last year became president of the NAACP. The first NAACP leader to come from ``the suites, not the street," as one member put it, Gordon has made it his mission to mend fences with Bush, while still criticizing some of his policies. Asked what motivated Gordon, an NAACP spokesman said this week, ``The president of the United States is the only president we have."

Truthfully, the NAACP has a lot more to worry about these days than whether the president will attend its convention. It has been adrift for years and is struggling for relevance, beset by financial troubles, dwindling membership, and personal scandal. But more important, it has been unable to redefine itself in the face of an increasingly conservative political landscape. Bush will grace the stage today and finally face his detractors, but if NAACP leaders are looking for legitimacy, they will have to look to themselves. It will be up to them to turn Bush's uncomfortable photo-op into the beginning of some real gains for underserved minority communities.