Reconciliation

Talk to the hand.

“I consider it a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln let go of its historic ties with the African-American community,” said Mr. Bush, whose relations with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have been so strained that, until Thursday, he was the first president since Herbert Hoover to refuse to address the group. “For too long my party wrote off the African-American vote, and many African-Americans wrote off the Republican Party.”

Saying that “history has prevented us from working together when we agree on great goals,” Mr. Bush said the goal should now be to transcend political divisions.

“I want to change the relationship,” he said.

The 33-minute speech was an exercise in bridge-building, intended partly to strengthen ties between Republicans and black voters and partly to reassure moderate white voters with a message of reconciliation. Though Mr. Bush received a standing ovation when he called on the Senate to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act — it passed unanimously hours later — a somber silence fell over the room as the president discussed his policies on education, jobs and housing, which polls suggest are unpopular with blacks.

The president was booed when he raised the topic of charter schools and was also interrupted by a heckler who shouted about the Middle East. Mr. Bush ignored the outburst, forging ahead with his speech, though the ruckus when the man was ejected briefly drowned him out.

Mr. Bush repeatedly referred to the group as the N-A-A-C-P, attracting some notice from those who use the more traditional pronunciation of N-double-A-C-P.

[...]

Another civil rights leader, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, said he spoke to Mr. Bush backstage after the speech and urged him to begin "a meaningful dialogue’’ with a broader range of black organizations.

“He said, ‘Well, talk with Karl Rove,’ ’’ Mr. Jackson said, referring to Mr. Bush’s chief political adviser.

I'm baffled as to the point of that. After six years of playing solely to the base, Bush, Rove, and the Republicans suddenly find that it might make sense to reach a hand out to the other side?