President Bush meets with Mfume

Kweisi Mfume, outgoing head of the NAACP, said Tuesday he had a "man-to-man" meeting with President Bush during which they talked about health care, education reform, Social Security and other issues. "He was genuinely interested in what I had to say," Mfume told reporters outside the White House. "So I'm hoping that at least, because it was a very frank and a very open dialogue, that it has served some purpose." He said that because of Tuesday's attack on a U.S. military mess tent in Iraq, that killed at least 24 people, he offered to delay the meeting, but the president, although distraught, wanted to go ahead. "I should point out that this does not constitute an official meeting with the NAACP," said Mfume, whose resignation as president and CEO of the NAACP is effective December 31. "I do hope, however, that it begins the process for future dialogue with the NAACP." Bush sat down with Mfume in an effort to make amends, the NAACP and a senior administration official said.Bush has declined to speak at the NAACP's annual conventions for the past four years. The White House cited a scheduling conflict as the reason for the president's absence this year. In July, he called his relationship with the NAACP "basically non-existent." Mfume said Tuesday that the president explained in the meeting that he did not attend the convention because Bush was concerned with protecting the office of president from any public humiliation. Mfume is rumored to have ambitions to run for governor or senator of Maryland. He ran for Congress in 1986 and won easily, holding his seat until he took over the NAACP. While in Congress, he consistently advocated civil rights and minority business legislation and was a co-sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act. [more] and [more]