Opinion: John McCain feels a little frost at Urban League conference
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ORLANDO, Fla -- John McCain received a polite greeting at the national conference of the Urban League in Orlando a little while ago, but the room turned decidedly chillier when the largely African American audience grilled the Arizona senator on his new support for Ward Connerly‘s initiatives against affirmative action.
Shortly after McCain’s prepared speech ended and the floor opened to questions, one African American man received cheers when he asked the Arizona Senator how he could support Connerly’s proposals.
‘Affirmative action is in the eye of the beholder,’ McCain said. ‘I think the United States of America has reached a point where we should provide equal economic opportunities for all Americans, and I think Americans have rejected a quota system.’ And then McCain added, to scattered laughter and hisses: ‘The best equal-opportunity employer in America today is the United States military, and I think that Colin Powell is an example of that.’
Moments later, Steve Hightower, president of Hightowers Petroleum Co. of Franklin, Ohio, said that the number of black students in universities dropped sharply once those universities banned affirmative action. McCain countered that he wanted to improve education starting from the ground up with charter schools and school choice. ‘We can improve the education of all Americans, but especially those who live in economically deprived areas,’ McCain said. He added: ‘By the way, keep drilling offshore, pal.’
Even though other questions focused on McCain’s plan to drill offshore for oil or on his health care plan, affirmative action remained a clear undercurrent of the discussion. One black woman introduced herself as a fluent Japanese speaker with an MBA, but noted she was ‘in an affirmative action program’ before asking McCain about how he would improve conditions in U.S. prisons.
-- Nicholas Riccardi