The civil rights activists of the NAACP beg to differ with the Rev. Jesse Jackson. They think Democrat Barack Obama is doing a good job balancing his role as a black candidate with the need to speak to all races.
The civil rights activists of the NAACP beg to differ with the Rev. Jesse Jackson. They think Democrat Barack Obama is doing a good job balancing his role as a black candidate with the need to speak to all races.
The Illinois senator addresses the 99th meeting of the nation's largest civil rights organization as some blacks, mostly notably the Rev. Jesse Jackson, have questioned whether the man who is in line to be the first black major-party presidential nominee is paying enough attention to the needs of blacks.
"He can't be totally focused on the black community," Kelvin Shaw, of Shreveport, La., said Monday. Shaw himself is most interested in what Obama plans on nationwide economic issues like rising oil prices, household costs and jobs. "We need to be talking about not one race, but what affects all people."
But some frustration spilled into public last week when Jackson was caught _ on a microphone he didn't know was still on _ saying he was ready to castrate Obama after his speech to a black church group about fatherhood and responsibility. Jackson said Obama came off as talking down to black people.
Jackson apologized for his comments, but said there were other important issues for black audiences like unemployment, mortgage foreclosures and the number of blacks in prison.
Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, the city's first directly elected black mayor, disputed the view that Obama isn't speaking to black voters.
"I think he absolutely has," Mallory said. Besides his messages about responsibility, Mallory said, Obama has talked about jobs, health care, education, and other "areas where black people are disproportionately affected."
Ronald Walters, a University of Maryland political scientist who was an aide to Jackson's presidential bids, said blacks understand that Obama is trying to be elected president in a majority-white nation. But he said there has been frustration for those who want Obama to lay out a specific agenda for the black community beyond speeches from the pulpit about responsibility.
"We don't expect him to be a minister," Walters said in a telephone interview. "He's running to be president. … What is the nature of your public policy?"
Gwendolyn Baker, here from Grand Prairie, Texas, said she thought Obama's talk about parental responsibility applies to all races.
"It's not just black families," she said. "He's talking about an issue that affects everybody _ black families, Hispanic families, white families."
Ronnie Robinson, here for the convention from North Carolina, said he hears some blacks say Obama, son of a white mother and black father, "isn't black enough." Robinson, though, thinks Obama's multiracial background helps him in having a broad appeal.
"He's unique," Robinson said. "He understands both sides."
Some people also understand the politics involved.
"Any candidate has to speak to all the people; they can't afford to speak exclusively to one group," said Dennis Courtland Hayes, the NAACP's interim president and CEO. "I would encourage us all to understand that we are not all going to get what we want. But working together, we can come up with resolutions to problems to get us to where we want to be."
The Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is officially nonpartisan. Likely GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain plans to speak here Wednesday.
The Arizona Republican plans to talk about education, including expanded merit-pay programs for teachers who improve their students' academic performance.
Walters, the political scientist, said McCain's visit to the convention is a way to say he wants to represent all groups.
"It strikes a good tone," Walters said. "If (McCain) is elected president, he can say, 'I was there, I have an open door.'"
Obama, who drew overwhelming black voter support during Democratic primaries, will find plenty of fans here.
"I think he's speaking to the whole United States," said Bernie Hewett, of Brunswick County, N.C. "He's especially reaching the young voters, black and white, getting them involved."
Alicia Reece, a former Cincinnati city councilwoman, said she hears a lot of enthusiasm about Obama among young blacks, who see his political emergence reflecting positively on a group familiar with negative portrayals.
"A lot of my friends feel there are a lot of Barack Obamas in our community that have never had the opportunity to be showcased like this," she said. "They're very excited about that."
And civil rights veteran Julian Bond, the NACCP board chairman, drew loud applause in a speech Sunday night when he described Obama's candidacy as a milestone.
"The country seems proud, and I know all of us here are, that a candidate campaigning in cities where he could not have stayed in a hotel 40 years ago has won his party's nomination for the nation's highest office," Bond said.
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