It was a rare misstatement for Kerry: “This is a president who hasn’t met with the Black Congressional Caucus.” As it turns out, Bush did.
“Well, first of all, it is just not true that I haven’t met with the Black Congressional Caucus. I met with the Black Congressional Caucus at the White House.”
He’s right; the CBC did meet with the president at the White House. Kerry, while generally perfect last night, got this one wrong. But, there’s a little more to this and it’s worth taking a closer look at this “meeting” Bush is so proud of.
Did the president extend an invitation to the CBC for an open dialog on issues of concern to the African-American community? Was this a scheduled meeting of a president anxious to heal racial wounds after so many black voters were disenfranchised in 2000? Not exactly.
The caucus members got to see Bush only after showing up at the White House gate and refusing to leave until the president agreed to meet with them, according to the group’s leader.
The session came about after the White House declined the group’s repeated requests for meetings, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the 39-member caucus, said after the debate Wednesday.
Last February, he said, the group wanted to meet with Bush to discuss the crisis in Haiti and called White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr. to tell him, “We’re coming to the White House.” About 20 members of the caucus then boarded a bus at the Capitol and traveled up Pennsylvania Avenue.
“We were not necessarily welcomed guests,” Cummings said, suggesting that hard feelings may have lingered after a number of black lawmakers challenged Bush’s election when the Electoral College votes were being certified in January 2001.
Caucus members were greeted by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and national security advisor Condoleezza Rice. But they were told flatly, “The president is not on the premises,” recalled Candice Tolliver, the group’s communications director.
Caucus members then said they wouldn’t leave until they could meet with Bush. Fifteen minutes later, the president showed up.
Hardly the kind of meeting the president should be boasting about now.