7774: NAACP Conventional Wisdom.

From The New York Times…

N.A.A.C.P. Looks to Regain ‘08 Momentum

By The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The head of the N.A.A.C.P., fearing a loss of momentum since the 2008 presidential election, plans to use the group’s annual convention to get people “off the couch” and re-energized to fight back against a Tea Party movement that opposes much of President Obama’s agenda.

The convention, which opened here on Saturday, will also focus on education and the mounting job losses that have disproportionately affected minorities. Headliners will include Michelle Obama and the Revs. Jesse L. Jackson and Al Sharpton.

“We have to close the enthusiasm gap and remind people that the majority that existed two years ago still exists today,” Benjamin T. Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a telephone interview.

Since the presidential election, the Tea Party movement has emerged, espousing a political philosophy of less government, a free market, lower taxes, individual rights and political activism.

Mr. Jealous sees the movement as pushing the country backward. He said that when people “get hit in the pocketbook, they start looking for scapegoats and they start tearing the country apart.” What is crucial, he said, is to talk about issues that unite the nation.

“The danger of the Tea Party is that people see them and think about periods in history when groups like them were much more powerful than they are now,” he said.

“And so a lot of what we spend energy doing is explaining to people what reality is,” he continued, “and that the reality is that the majority from 2008 still exists. It went nowhere but back on the couch, and our biggest challenge is to get it back off the couch and back to the streets and back on the battlefield.”

Greg Ward, a Kansas real estate agent and a Tea Party supporter who helped founded a group called the Kansas 912 Project, disputed assertions that the group does not want progress and said its members had made extra efforts to include black conservatives who are concerned about the direction of the country.

“I think part of the Tea Party thing is people are just tired of the polarization and the lack of the government being in touch with the majority of the people,” Mr. Ward said.

Mr. Jealous said that beyond increased activism, the N.A.A.C.P.’s top short-term goal was jobs. The convention, which will run through Thursday, will include a session on green jobs, and speakers will talk about how the BP oil spill is affecting several disenfranchised groups, including Vietnamese-Americans, American Indians, and black fishermen and oil workers.

“Nothing happens unless people get back to work,” he said. “We don’t have money for schools. We don’t have money to pay mortgages with, so jobs are key.”