Bush speaks to Black Expo

INDIANAPOLIS - The 35th annual Indiana Black Expo gave President George W. Bush a chance to regain ground with black voters since he chose not to speak at the last five NAACP conventions. \nBush received a standing ovation upon his entrance to the RCA dome from a crowd of about 3,000 people, where he later received the lifetime achievement award. \nBush spent just less than 30 minutes speaking to the predominantly black audience about issues he felt were most important to them, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, the need for more black entrepreneurs, black home owners -- which he said improve the economy -- and better education for all Americans.\n"Most new jobs in America today are filled by people with at least two years of college," Bush said. "And so we need to make higher education more affordable. And I proposed to the United States Congress that we reform the student aid system and increase college assistance for low-income students through the Pell Grant program. I think we need to increase the maximum award for Pell Grants and make them available to students year-round so they can be used for summer school, as well."\nThree years ago, Bush set a goal of creating 5.5 million new minority homeowners by the end of this decade.\n"We're getting results," he said. "We've already added 2.3 million new homeowners, minority homeowners, putting us ahead of schedule. Today, nearly half of all African Americans own their own homes. And that's good for our country."\nHe also spoke about the need to be "on the offense" when it comes to the war on terror and the need to add individual accounts in the overhaul of social security.\n"It's going broke," Bush said. "I know some in Washington don't like to hear that. They kind of wish the issue would go away. It's not going away. In my judgment, now is the time to address it. The job of the president is to confront problems, not pass them on to future presidents or future generations. And we got a problem."\nThere were no shouts of support nor of discontent when Bush mentioned the war in Iraq, despite the several protestors outside the RCA Dome chanting and holding signs calling for an end of the war in Iraq. \nBush was not alone on the stage. He was joined by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, Congresswoman Julia Carson, D-Ind., who traveled on Air Force One with Bush, and several members of the Black Expo. \nBush is the first sitting president to address the Black Expo and carried an overall optimistic tone to each section of his address. \n"We believe in the power of the human spirit to lift communities and to change lives," he said. "Together, we're working to achieve a great national goal: making our country a place where opportunity and prosperity are within reach for all Americans."\nBush also discussed the United States renewal of aid to Africa, a topic widely discussed at the G8 summit that ended just about a week ago.\n"I believe that human rights are not determined by race or nationality, or diminished by distance," Bush said. "As Americans are moved to action -- we are moved to action when we see millions in Africa who are facing famine, or dying of malaria or the AIDS pandemic. Last year, the United States of America provided nearly 60 percent of the global food aid to the continent of Africa. We're supporting an aggressive campaign to cut the mortality rate of malaria in half"