Former congressman J.C. Watts used to say that his grandfather often told him that a black person voting Republican was like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. Yet Republican presidential candidates usually make at least some effort to appeal to black voters, leading to press coverage about how they’re hoping to at least cut into the loyalty those voters feel for the Democratic party. And then in the end it doesn’t work, which makes one wonder if the candidate was actually serious about it in the first place. Mitt Romney is making just such an effort now, albeit a modest one, and the Washington Post kind of falls for it with an article about Romney’s outreach to the African-American community. This would seem to be the ultimate fool’s errand, given the fact that Romney’s opponent is America’s first black president. But buried deep within the article is what the whole effort is really about:
[Romney advisor Tara] Wall, a former TV journalist from Detroit, acknowledges that making inroads with African Americans will be a challenge but said she senses that some black voters “aren’t feeling it this time” for Obama. They also hope to cause some second-guessing about Obama stewardship of the economy, which could lower enthusiasm for the president.
“There is no chance that Mitt Romney will do any better than John McCain did in 2008,” said Michael Fauntroy, author of “Republicans and the Black Vote.” “Ultimately, it’s an indirect appeal. It’s about showing a willingness to show concern for all Americans and a way to come across as severely compassionate conservative,” Fauntroy added.
That’s exactly what it’s about. Nobody on Team Romney is dumb enough to think he’ll get more than a few votes from African Americans. But by making a show of trying, he demonstrates to moderate white voters (and maybe some Latinos) that he’s an open-hearted, moderate guy, not one of those kind of Republicans. This strategy was used most effectively by George W. Bush, who spent a great deal of time palling around with people of color, to show he was a “different kind of Republican,” in the phrase used so often in 2000. Eventually, Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” became code for “doesn’t hate blacks and Latinos,” which on a personal basis Bush certainly didn’t. He even appointed quite a few of them. And in 2004, his campaign web site featured a “Compassion Photo Album,” which was nothing more than a bunch of pictures of George and Laura with blacks and Latinos.
Bush didn’t do any better with black voters than your typical Republican, and Romney will do worse, simply by virtue of the fact that he’s running against Obama. But if he tries hard enough, maybe he can get a do-over for this: