Crafting Policy

Thanks to Hugh Hewitt for the assist on this amazing piece in Sunday LAT.

Last week Condi Rice and other senior State Department officials met with two dozen influential black religious leaders, many of them harsh critics of the Bush Administration, in an effort to expand the dialogue to craft policy on Africa.

Andrew Young, former Atlanta Mayor and UN Ambassador, surprised many by praising Secretary of State Rice. Young spoke how it was once unthinkable, during the clashes during the civil rights years, that the daughter of a black preacher from the South would one day become the nation's top diplomat.

In attendance were luminaries Bishop TD Jakes, Rev. Donnie McClurkin, Rev. Eugene Rivers, Bishop Eddie Long, the Rev. William Shaw, Bishop Sedgwick Daniels, among others.

Democrats, worried about losing support among a key constituency, are accusing the White House of playing politics with religion. What's new about that?

Rather it appears that the Democrats, the party of the poor and the working class, have some work to do to catch up with the GOP. Harry Reid has hired some new staff to research faith based groups.

And then there's Hillary Clinton, suddenly concerned about the same faith based initiatives that President Bush has been advocating for five years. Wow. What a visionary leader. I guess there were some poll results that she just couldn't ignore.