But Don't Call It Affirmative But Don't Call It Affirmative
washingtonpost.com
Thursday, January 30, 2003; Page A22
HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER Tom DeLay's latest effort to reach out to African Americans began with a call to Armstrong Williams, conservative commentator and former Senate aide to Strom Thurmond. Mr. Williams describes the arc of the meeting like this: Mr. Williams said, "Enough, we have to do something about this lily white party," at which point everyone turned ashen and silent. Then House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert stepped in and said the party needed to find 200 black Republican staffers within two years. And Mr. Williams added, "Yes, we need black economists! Staff counsels! Heads of committees!"
And Mr. DeLay topped it off with a vision of future black delegates at Republican conventions eventually leading to a surge of newly elected black Republican members of Congress. Excuse us, but isn't this affirmative action? More specifically, isn't this exactly the kind of racial preference the Republican leadership has opposed in the University of Michigan case and, well, everywhere else? "We've always supported hiring the best possible talent regardless of race, gender or creed," said a spokesman for Mr. DeLay.
Yes, but? He then explained that these black applicants would not necessarily be guaranteed jobs but would just expand the pool beyond friends of current staffers and that, anyway, no jobs were currently open. Once again, as in President Bush's position on Michigan, Republicans want it both ways: pretending to be purists of race neutrality when it suits their political needs, but favoring and at times practicing some form of affirmative action when that seems more useful. They may call it "affirmative access" or "opportunities, not results" -- but whatever it's called, it is definitely not race blindness.
Republicans have been trying to tap into a supposed silent majority of black conservatives at least since the time of the New Deal. Still, black Americans vote 90 percent Democratic. Former representative J.C. Watts tried to explain to his fellow leaders that the problem was not faces at the table but actual issues. But Mr. Watts, the only black House Republican, got fed up and left. After the last meeting between Republican leaders and Mr. Williams, The Post's Terry M. Neal asked whether the University of Michigan or Charles W. Pickering Sr.'s judicial nomination had come up. "Are they important?" Mr. Williams replied.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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