Republicans like to boast about how they are the truly color-blind party, while Democrats are cynically race-conscious. So I find it amusing that the Bush re-election campaign’s web site features a photo gallery depicting the President’s “compassion,” in which virtually all the recipients of that compassion are African-Americans. Isn’t that a rather stereotyped view of who needs compassion, Mr. President? In fact there are nearly twice as many poor non-Hispanic whites in the US than poor African Americans. Don’t they deserve compassion too? (For that matter don’t all poor people deserve more than just photogenic displays of “compassion”?)
Also of interest is the photo gallery on the environment, which features Bush (this time among mostly white people) visiting photogenic national parks and wilderness areas. Isn’t this a rather stereotyped view of the environment, Mr. President? How about a visit to cities trying with reduced budgets to provide clean drinking water, efficient sewage disposal and sanitary landfills? Or would this make some of your friends a little too, um, uncomfortable?
(Via Dana Milbank in The Washington Post.)
