by Askia Muhammad
White House Correspondent

THE WHITE HOUSE�Less than two weeks after his inauguration, which many members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) boycotted, President George W. Bush met and tried to mend fences with his most unforgiving group of critics.

"This will be the beginning of hopefully a lot of meetings. I hope you come back," Mr. Bush told 31 CBC members Jan. 31. "It�s an important part of my job to talk to everybody who is in the legislative body."

CBC Vice Chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told reporters after the meeting that the delegation expressed "the pain" that their constituents are feeling about the election and why some CBC members chose not to come.

"We reminded him that three of our members from Florida did not come because they felt that it was just inappropriate at this time, and they were still trying to address the pain that their constituents were feeling," Mr. Cummings said.

The meeting was part of Mr. Bush�s bi-partisan outreach�which included meetings with about 150 senators and House members, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats�during his first two weeks in office, according to the White House.

"I will remind you all that I understand the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I only get to suggest, and you all pass the laws," Mr. Bush told the lawmakers at the outset of the meeting.

"That�s right," Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) responded, prompting laughter around the otherwise tense table.

"I understand that well," said Mr. Bush with a smile.

While CBC members as well as the White House said that it was a "good meeting," there were still many sharp divisions expressed when they discussed the substantive issues: the feeling of so many Black voters about the election, and an across-the-board condemnation of the appointment of former Sen. John Ashcroft to be Attorney General.

"I thought it was an excellent beginning. It was a good meeting," Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) told The Final Call. "I think that President Bush was candid. He expressed his position in relationship to certain principles and concepts�some of which we agreed upon�but then, of course, we disagreed seriously on major issues that affect life in this country.

"We are going to work with (Mr. Bush) to the extent possible, disagree with him when necessary, and fight him to the hilt when we think that he�s wrong," said Rep. Davis, who, unlike his colleagues, co-chaired an inaugural prayer luncheon to help welcome the new president.

"We spent quite a bit of time with regard to Mr. Ashcroft," said Mr. Cummings. "We said that we are vehemently against Mr. Ashcroft because we believe that his policies in the past, his actions, not only as a senator, but as an attorney general, and as a governor have flown in the face of the concerns of our constituents."

Mr. Ashcroft was confirmed the following day by the narrowest Cabinet-confirmation vote in the Senate in more than 20 years�58 to 42. Eight Democrats joined the 50 Republicans in voting to approve the controversial nominee.

CBC members listed about 20 concerns during the 90-minute meeting, but Mr. Bush offered firm commitments on only three of them: the AIDS crisis in Africa, free trade with Africa, and education in this country.

The legislators asked Mr. Bush to affirm the recess appointment by Pres. Bill Clinton of Roger Gregory to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the circuit with the largest Black population in the nation, and the only court which never had a Black judge. Both of Virginia�s Republican Senators�John Warner and George Allen�have called on their colleagues to confirm Mr. Gregory. The Fourth Circuit includes Virginia and West Virginia as well as North and South Carolina.

CBC members also asked Pres. Bush to name Missouri Supreme Court Judge Ronnie White to the federal bench. They said they told Mr. Bush that an appointment of Judge White would send a powerful message that his appointment�derailed many believe by Mr. Ashcroft who labeled Mr. White as "pro-criminal"�should not have been blocked in the first place.

In a letter to the President, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) also called for Judge White to be appointed in order to help "heal the wounds." Mr. Gephardt was also joined by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), one of the few Democrats who voted to confirm Mr. Ashcroft, in calling for the re-nomination of Judge White to a federal judgeship.

"It was a beneficial meeting," CBC Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.) told The Final Call. "He made a commitment that he was going to be president for all the people. Of course, he knew which way the votes had gone. We had to point out how much the anger and the anguish is still present. He took that, I believe, very seriously.

"He made a commitment to work with us to correct those issues so that we won�t have to have that experience again," she said regarding the election charges and counter-charges. "He also indicated that he wanted to spend the time necessary to make sure that we did it in a fair and correct manner."

"We received a firm commitment that he would make sure that the laws were upheld and enforced fairly. He wanted to make sure that during his administration that he would do whatever it took so that people did not feel that justice was not for all people in this country. We know that one meeting is not going to be enough. We knew that coming in," said Rep. Johnson.