President Bush gave a speech that was well received at the NAACP Annual Convention in Washington, DC. The NAACP has an energy committee that is comprised mostly of representatives from industry. Of course, we doubt that many if any environmentalists from the traditional environmental groups are members of the NAACP. And surely President Bush has attended more of the annual meetings. But we digress. Maybe the NAACP can help African Americans to get more equity in the energy sector. Nigerian-born Kase Lawal is the only black player developing oil and gas.A change in leadership and a lowering of partisan rhetoric probably led to this speech. This speaks well for the NAACP's new president, Bruce S. Gordon. Julian Bond will stay as partisan as ever, but the NAACP probably has many Republican members. Although the GOP is still seen as hostile to most blacks, African Americans are also starting to join and engage the Republican Party in record numbers. This is probably best represented by the candidacy of Michael Steele, who is seeking to be the next senator from Maryland.
UPDATE The dependably partisan Washington Post uses this headline to desbribe President Bush's speech: "Bush NAACP Address Receives Lukewarm Applause." We saw the speech and heard repeated applause at several points during the president's speech. You would have thought he was speaking to a joint session of Congress. The Washington Post should just set up a desk over at the DNC. What sort of journalistics standards allows this sort of political bias?
UPDATE They changed the headline, probably due to AAEA criticism, and now Darryl Fears, a fair and balanced reporter at The Post, wrote a good article: "At NAACP, Bush Tries To Mend Rifts."
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