It is official. Texas Gov. George W. Bush, "W" (that is "Dubya" to Texans), is now the Republican Party candidate for U.S. president. In another perfectly coordinated, masterfully executed convention, the GOP rallied behind Mr. Bush and his running mate, Mr. Dick Cheney, and began the real campaign for the Nov. 7 election. Yet one question hangs over the festivities in Philadelphia: What does the world now know about the GOP nominee that it did not know last week? The answer is a disappointing "not very much."
Sadly, that is how it is supposed to be. U.S. political conventions are stage-managed productions, designed to reassure the party faithful, paper over any internal divisions and woo undecided voters. The result is pablum: smooth, soothing, full of rhetoric, devoid of substance.
The world knows that Mr. Bush preaches "compassionate conservatism" and wants to remake his party in the image of his country. The speakers on the podium during the convention's four days testified to that goal: There were men and women, blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans, from all classes and walks of life. But turn to the convention floor and a different picture comes into focus: The party itself continues to be dominated by whites -- 83 percent of the delegates, according to one survey.