Hat In Hand

John McCain speaks today to the NAACP annual convention in Cincinnati. It would be a grand understatement to say the GOPer faces an uphill climb in courting black voters, who turned out in force for Barack Obama during the primaries. National surveys indicate that Obama is garnering strong support from the African-American community against McCain, with at least nine of 10 black voters saying they'll back the Democrat.

McCain skipped last year's NAACP convention, a point he is expected to attribute in today's remarks to the "implosion in my campaign" at the time. Still, Democrats have released research to reporters noting that the NAACP has given McCain a grade of 'F' for his record on civil rights matters during the 106th, 107th, 108th and 109th Congresses. More recently, he received an 'incomplete' rating.

Excerpts from McCain's speech are available after the jump.

(JS)

NAACP Annual Convention

Cincinnati, Ohio

July 16, 2008

Thank you. Julian Bond, Dennis Courtland Hayes, Roslyn Brock – I appreciate your kind invitation, and this warm welcome to the NAACP. This is your second invitation to me during my presidential campaign, and I hope you’ll excuse me for passing on the opportunity at your convention last year. As you might recall, I was a bit distracted at the time dealing with what reporters uncharitably described as an implosion in my campaign. But I’m very glad you invited me again.

…

As in other challenges African Americans have met and overcome, these problems require clarity of purpose. They require the solidarity of groups like the NAACP. And, at times, they also require a willingness to break from conventional thinking.

Nowhere are the limitations of conventional thinking any more apparent than in education policy. Education reform has long been a priority of the NAACP, and for good reason. For all the best efforts of teachers and administrators, the worst problems of our public school system are often found in black communities. Black and Latino students are among the most likely to drop out of high school. African Americans are also among the least likely to go on to college.

After decades of hearing the same big promises from the public education establishment, and seeing the same poor results, it is surely time to shake off old ways and to demand new reforms. That isn’t just my opinion; it is the conviction of parents in poor neighborhoods across this nation who want better lives for their children.

…

Over the years, Americans have heard a lot of “tired rhetoric” about education. We’ve heard it in the endless excuses of people who seem more concerned about their own position than about our children. We’ve heard it from politicians who accept the status quo rather than stand up for real change in our public schools. Parents ask only for schools that are safe, teachers who are competent, and diplomas that open doors of opportunity. When a public system fails, repeatedly, to meet these minimal objectives, parents ask only for a choice in the education of their children. Some parents may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private school. Many will choose a charter school. No entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity.

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If I am elected president, school choice for all who want it, an expansion of Opportunity Scholarships, and alternative certification for teachers will all be part of a serious agenda of education reform.

…

Many of you are veterans of the great civil rights struggles of a generation and more ago. Like my friend John Lewis, some of you have seen enough years to have known Martin Luther King, Jr., and even marched at his side or not far behind in Birmingham, Montgomery, or elsewhere. For all of this, like Dr. King, you were called agitators, trouble-makers, malcontents, and disturbers of the peace. These are often the terms applied to men and women of conscience who will not endure cruelty, nor abide injustice.

…

As much as any other group in America, the NAACP has been at the center of that great and honorable cause. I’m here today as an admirer and a fellow American, an association that means more to me than any other. I am a candidate for president who seeks your vote and hopes to earn it. But whether or not I win your support, I need your goodwill and counsel. And should I succeed, I’ll need it all the more. I have always believed in this country, in a good America, a great America. But I have always known we can build a better America, where no place or person is left without hope or opportunity by the sins of injustice or indifference. It would be among the great privileges of my life to work with you in that cause.