CINCINNATI — CINCINNATI - Appearing before some of his presidential rival's most ardent supporters, Sen. John McCain urged delegates to the NAACP convention yesterday to support school vouchers as a way to improve education in largely black, underperforming school systems.
McCain acknowledged that he will have difficulty making inroads among black voters. But he used his speech to the Baltimore-based civil rights organization to criticize the education views of his Democratic opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and to argue that the country needs to move away from "conventional thinking" with regard to public schools.
"Senator Obama dismissed public support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans as 'tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice,'" said McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. "All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?"
The Arizona senator pledged to offer bonuses to teachers working in the most troubled schools and expand scholarship opportunities for low-income students in struggling areas.
"For all the best efforts of teachers and administrators, the worst problems of our public school system are often found in black communities," he told nearly 3,000 members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People gathered at its 99th annual convention.
McCain received a polite, somewhat sedate reception - with only a smattering of applause for his education plan. It was in sharp contrast to the frenzied welcome that Obama, the first black to win a major-party nomination for president, received here Monday evening.
Before McCain took the stage, no giant lines snaked out of the convention center. No giddy supporters in McCain T-shirts, buttons or placards could be seen, and no "amens" were uttered from the crowd.
By coming to the NAACP, McCain was not expecting to change the minds of many black voters, experts said.
Rather, he was shifting his message to the center.
"It might help him with moderate white voters," said Merle Black, a political science professor from Emory University. "McCain is not showing up there to increase significantly African-American support for his campaign; it's more a sign of respect for the organization."
