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Bush Has Own View of Promoting Civil Rights

As President Bush debated Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, his Democratic opponent for the White House, in their final campaign face-off last week, he told the audience, "Reading is the new civil right."

It’s a line from his campaign stump speech, and it calls attention to the way Mr. Bush has sought to redefine the discussion of civil rights in education. Instead of focusing on racial integration in public schools, for instance, the president has emphasized the achievement gap between minority and white students. He has spoken of school choice as a basic right and eased federal restrictions on single-sex public education to provide another option for parents. In line with his support for religious communities, he has been attentive to discrimination based on faith.

“He has certainly gone in a different direction with respect to civil rights,” said Roger Clegg, the general counsel for the Sterling, Va.-based Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank that addresses issues of race and ethnicity. “He has a...