Black Republicans have no place to go but to Obama?

African American Republicans are worried about their place in the Republican Party. There is fear and great trepidation on how inclusive the party of Lincoln will be when President George W. Bush leaves office next January.

I have received a number of anonymous emails from Black Elephant office holders from around the country and I have been a part of some clandestine meetings and conference calls with a number of prominent African American Republicans from Texas to Washington, DC who repeatedly ask: What is going to happen to us? There is no confidence Senator John McCain will do anything to embrace this group. Afraid to come out of the closet for Obama, most are silently breaking for him.

Although President Bush's national approval rating is under 30 percent, when it comes to African American Republicans, his approval ratings soar through the roof.  He is perceived as the only Republican president since Richard Nixon to actively reach out and include African Americans.  Bush's historical appointments of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice to the Secretary of State spot as well as other key appointments throughout his Administration helped garner this support. President Bush did more than pepper blacks throughout his Administration. Many of us felt he was personally committed.       

Senator McCain said he would like to reach out to African Americans.  However, his campaign has done no more than hold some private meetings with a few black Republicans who are trying to figure out how they can play with McCain. Minus a couple of black folks seen with him on the campaign trail, you still don't see many in the room with McCain when he is meeting and greeting or standing in crowds.

What you see with McCain are packs of what Ron Heifetz in the Harvard Executive Leadership School calls older "silverback" white males. When President Bush was on the stump in 2000 and 2004, and later in the White House, African American Republicans often heard that President Bush strongly admonished his staff for inviting the same old white guys to everything.

The McCain campaign recently launched a web site in all Spanish to woo the Latino vote Bush courted and enjoyed. McCain has a formidable advisory board of Latino leaders from across the country. He should. Latinos do vote Republican and yes they are the fastest growing minority group. However, the McCain web site does not showcase African Americans for McCain.  Maybe he will wait until after the RNC Convention in September.

When Karl Rove ran the Bush operation, he was smart enough to know it made good political sense to reach out to African Americans even though the black vote meant very little to his candidate's victory. He expended dollars on black press, hired black consultants, partnered with organizations and black churches to promote education and faith-based agendas and empowered a significant number of black Republicans, peppering them throughout the campaign from grass roots to finance. When President Bush traveled from state to state, there were always African Americans involved. You never saw so many black dots as at the 2000 and 2004 Republican National Conventions.

Will Senator McCain distance himself from President Bush on this issue too? Will the good Senator allow his campaign to decide that African Americans don't really fit into the McCain equation in November? Thus black Republican involvement won't matter so much this time?

With Obama really desiring to slam the door shut on Hillary Clinton to become the nominee on the Dems side, the idea of a black vice presidential candidate on the Republican side was a brief discussion in the McCain campaign early on, flirting with possible running mates such as former congressman J.C. Watts, Jr., who is highly respected by the conservative wing of the party.

Other names thrown around were Condi Rice and former Lt. Governor Michael Steele. Frankly since Obama is running on the other side, black Republicans who were once considered are breathing a sigh of relief to have to run against the "brotha." Many Black Republicans and Democrats alike feel when they fight publicly against each other in the press it is a form of symbolic black-on-black crime.

With the exception of a very select group of Black Elephants, the Republican Party has written off the black vote completely and therefore the notion of African American Republicans coming along for McCain may even be seen at best as suspicious. Obama shows over 95 percent African American support. Black Republicans not welcomed with open arms by the McCain campaign are destined to become Obamicans in November when they vote. If not, they will just stay home.