At this crucial time in American life, President Bush has before him a number of options that call for supreme boldness but are well within the realm of possibility.

Bush needs to contemplate something I once saw when Jack Kemp, then the U.S. housing secretary, Bertha Gilke, a black community leader, and the first President George Bush spoke together in St. Louis. At one point, Gilke said that as a lifelong Democrat, she had never expected to be on a stage with two Republicans, but she had to admit that Bush and Kemp had made it possible for working-class black people to own their homes.

Back then, the GOP was bent on taking black votes away from the Democrats. But that interest seems to have waned, and now bitter black Republicans don’t believe the party has any intention of engaging blacks by moving on inarguable problems.

As one black Republican said, “You take Chris Garrett, the single black man at the Republican National Committee. He gets no support. They’ve made him into a quadriplegic paperhanger; he’s given skates to climb a mountain and lead combat boots to run the 100-yard dash. He’s a broken piece of black lead in a white pencil. It’ll never write unless they decide to sharpen it, which is doubtful.”

Promises were made after black conservative Armstrong Williams called a meeting in January between disgruntled black Republicans and high-ranking party members. For one, GOP leaders said they would provide 400 intern jobs for young blacks this summer. But few jobs have appeared, primarily, say some blacks, because the promise was considered affirmative action and, therefore, out of the question.

Others say Karl Rove, Bush’s top political adviser, isn’t going to use one penny of the $200 million being raised for the president’s re-election to bring blacks into the party. They point out that Rove has a staff of 60 — all white. He’s after the suburban soccer moms and doesn’t give a damn about black voters, who he hopes will remain uninvolved and no threat.

If the president wants to go beyond the indifferent attitudes of his party, he will have to go to the people. He can start by declaring war on the urban terrorism inflicted by street gangs and drug dealers. By doing that, he would connect with the people themselves rather than depending on the support of the civil rights establishment, which is out of ideas.

Were Bush to announce that this country will no longer allow Americans to be terrorized and murdered by thugs, he could count on ministers, community leaders and the communities themselves to come behind him. Were federal law enforcement linked to local police and neighborhood-based crime-fighting alliances, Bush would draw people to him, including the soccer moms, who would be appalled when they found out how Americans are oppressed by urban crime.

Such boldness could transform the GOP and would greatly better the country. I’m sure of that.