So White, So Brite I Had To Wear Shades

That's the kind of future McCain wanted to evoke with his speech last night. He's a maverick who will help the Republican's clean up their act, hence the white, and bring back the glory days of the 80s, hence the bright.

Unfortunately, the white too many will see, and I saw, was the 90% plus white convention. From the Washington Post: Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies began tracking diversity at political conventions 40 years ago. That's down from a high of a 167 in 2004. That means less than 2% of the delegates were black.

And what was blinding, wasn't McCain's optimism, but the age of the audience.

There were definitely students for McCain signs waving, however, the audience's average age didn't look like it was below 45. Considering older voters are more reliable that could be a boon for McCain in November. But, for the Republican party, that could be a death knell for the journey it has made since the late 60s in growing its ranks.

With every camera pass, it became more obvious that, at least in perception, this is a party that's not really ready to pass on the mantle.

The greatest mistake the Civil Rights Generation did was to hold on to power much too long. The Hip Hop generation did take up the reigns, but it was never with the tacit approval or involvement of the older generation. And until the naughties, never in the mass that has eclipsed the Civil Rights Generation, even though the Civil Rights Generation was already deep into political middle age by the time the Hip Hop generation was turning 18. That mistake has had long lasting effects that are only now starting to be corrected and reflected in new policies and ideas.

Where will new conservative ideas come from if Republicans don't get their act together. They'll be doing it from a metaphorical grave. And considering how often they go to the Reagan well, that's not much of a stretch.

Republicans, for all their talk, have yet to demonstrate that beyond white folks who were actually old enough to vote for Reagan, that they really desire to represent or fight for all America.

Picture Hotlinked From Washington Post