Rep. Mel Watt on NPR Discussing Congressional Black Caucus Meeting with Bush

Originally published by the National Public Radio (NPR) January 27, 2005 

Copyright 2005 National Public Radio (R)

NPR News with Tony Cox 9:00 AM EST NPR


COX: Now to tell us about the Congressional Black Caucus' meeting with the president, we're joined by their chairman, North Carolina Democrat Melvin Watt.

Congressman, welcome to the show.

Representative MELVIN WATT (Democrat, North Carolina): Happy to be here.

COX: Let's start with this. I'll ask you the same question that I put to Michelle Bernard. In light of the president's meeting with conservative black leaders and others, according to her, and then meeting separately with the CBC the following day, is there enough political capital to go around with regard to advancing the interest of African-American voters? And who's best situated to take advantage of that new opportunity with the White House?

Rep. WATT: Well, I don't think there's ever enough political or other kind of capital to go around to do all of the things that need to be done, but I don't want that to suggest that that should create an argument about who's talking to the president or who's trying to advance any agenda. I actually think it's very good for the president to be meeting with a whole range of people in the African-American community and in other communities, especially at this point in the second administration where he's trying to get a sense of where he's going. And that's what we were trying to give him, not so much what his agenda is but what the Congressional Black Caucus' agenda is, which is focus solely on closing disparities that exist between African-American citizens and the majority citizens in this country so that African-Americans can live out the full American dream just like everybody else does.

I doubt that there was anybody in the meeting the day before who did not share that same objective. I have never talked to an African-American person who doesn't believe that disparities that continue to exist and persist in our society in every area need to be closed. And there may be different avenues of how you get there. Different people want to do it one way. Different people have different philosophies about how to do it and what part of that agenda is most important, which disparities need to be closed first. But I don't think this is an argument between African-American people.

COX: Talk about the meeting that you had with the president. And let me ask you to describe it in one of these two ways--well, not of these two ways but whether or not these two descriptions fit. Was it politically polite or was it productive?

Rep. WATT: I think it was politically polite and potentially productive. I can't say that we came out of the meeting yesterday with any concrete things, but it was cordial. So in that sense, it was politically polite. But it could be productive, because there are two additional opportunities immediately and ongoing opportunities for the president to make it productive. And the next opportunity, of course, will be in the State of the Union address where he could use his bully pulpit to really talk about closing some of these disparities that continue to exist between African-Americans and the majority community. And then right after that, he'll have the opportunity to submit his budget, and there'll be another opportunity for him to tell you what his values are and whether he supports closing those disparities.

COX: Let's bring our conversation to a close on this topic. Let's talk about the Democratic Party and the African-American voting body. What do you think it will take to keep African-Americans engaged with that party? And does the erosion, small though it may be at the moment, worry you?

Rep. WATT: Well, I think the Democratic Party has the same challenge that the president and the Republican Party has. There are a number of disparities out there that have continued to persist throughout a long, long--our entire history. And the Democratic Party has taken up some of those issues and tried to make progress on them. I think African-Americans are now looking for results from Republican Party, Democratic Party, the president, the leadership. And that's really what the Congressional Black Caucus is all about, saying to every one of those different elements, look, `There are continuing disparities that exist. We need to close these disparities.' And that's our focus in Congress as members of the Congressional Black Caucus. We may have different focuses individually, but the Congressional Black Caucus' focus is closing and eliminating those disparities.'

COX: Really quickly--I've got about 20 seconds or so--do you think, as you look toward the midterm elections in 2006, will black voters come out or will they stay home?

Rep. WATT: Well, I hope they will stay out because we certainly have a big, big, big dog in this fight. Every time there's an election--local, state, federal, presidential, any kind--we've got a big stake in the outcome of it and we can't just turn our backs and walk away from it.

COX: Democratic Congressman Melvin Watt of North Carolina, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Congressman, thank you very much for coming on with us today.

Rep. WATT: Thank you.