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Tavis: Ron Christie is a former special assistant to President Bush and former deputy policy advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney. He is the author of the new book, "Black in the White House, Life Inside George W. Bush's West Wing.' Ron Christie, nice to have you on the program.

Ron Christie: Tavis, it's nice to see you.

Tavis: Before I get to the text, if I might, I'd like to start with some of the news of the day. One cannot talk to one who has worked for Vice President Dick Cheney without asking that question, that elephant in the room, of what you think it was like in the Vice President's office over the last few days, last couple of weeks, with the news of his travail where this hunting accident is concerned.

Christie: Well, Tavis, I think it had to be a very difficult, a very emotional time for the Vice President. The Vice President was down on a ranch in Texas, and inadvertently shot and wounded one of his friends. And knowing him, having had the opportunity to work with him, he is a very caring man, a very compassionate individual.

And I know for a fact his first thought going through his mind is, what can I do to make sure my friend is okay? What can we do to ensure that he's on a path to recovery? The media, on the other hand, has made so much of this and said, well, why hasn't the Vice President called the White House press corps immediately?

Or why didn't the Vice President immediately go forth with the story? And my response, and my good friend Mary Matalin, who's gone back to advise him on this particular issue, said for goodness sakes, he's a human being. His first reaction, his first concern, was to take care of his friend, and that's what he did in that case. And thankfully, this is going behind us, and I'm glad to see that Mr. Whittington is out of the hospital on a swift recovery.

Tavis: So you don't think the Vice President's office mishandled - it's one thing for the Vice President to check in on his friend. But the entire apparatus of the Vice President is to handle all these other issues while he, in fact, is taking care or looking in on his friend. You don't think the Vice President's office mishandled it, if not the Vice President itself? His office didn't mishandle this?

Christie: Well, I don't think so, Tavis. I had the opportunity to travel with him on similar private events. He doesn't travel with press people when he's on private affairs. You're talking about a man who was on a ranch, it was at dusk, it was at night, the story got out. He made sure that information went out, and it was out responsibly. But no, and looking back in hindsight, I think the Vice President said that he handled it properly, and he felt very confident about that.

Tavis: At one point during your White House tenure, you also reported to one Scooter Libby. Lewis I. "Scooter" Libby. Your thoughts on the travail of Mr. Libby these days?

Christie: Scooter Libby is one of the most honest people I've ever met. He's a man of impeccable integrity and decency. He set the course in the office of the Vice President. He made sure that we had a very realistic working environment. He made sure that we got home when we needed to get home. But also at the same time, Tavis, he made sure that we were focused and doing our job.

The underlying crime was never addressed by the special council, which was whether or not a government individual was involved with disclosing improperly the identity of a CIA operative. Ultimately, I think he will be fully exonerated of the charges that have been put before him.

Tavis: Okay, so that's Cheney, that's Libby. Your thoughts on President Bush, as a Black in the White House, or - I can't say former Black, you're still Black.

Christie: (laugh) Yes, I am.

Tavis: But a Black who was formerly in the White House. Your thoughts on what you make of this President where Black people's issues are concerned.

Christie: President Bush is a decent man. He's the true compassionate conservative. He came out with that line, and said he was a compassionate conservative. What struck me, Tavis, is that he really backed up, when he said that he wanted to battle the low expectations, the soft bigotry of low expectations. He has done so much through his No Child Left Behind act, through his home ownership policies, through his economic policies, to really chart a course that's not gonna only benefit all Americans in general, but people of color, I believe, in particular.

You look at home ownership rates for African Americans, they're at the nearest, highest level right now. You look at unemployment rate, that's falling. You look at the number of jobs that have been created since May of 2003. Some 4.6 million jobs. I think the President has been a true compassionate conservative. He's backed up what he said he was going to do, and his actions have spoken louder than his words.

Tavis: This program and this conversation's not about my politics, but I want to make a point. So let me just, indulge me for a second. My politics happen to be more left of center on social issues, more right of center on moral questions. Not unlike most Black people we know. Do we agree on this?

Christie: Yes, we do.

Tavis: Most Black people, historically, have been more liberal on social questions, more conservative on the moral questions. That said, even with a guy like Bill Clinton, who, as you know, phenomenally popular amongst Black folk, you can't look at the President's agenda in eight years in the White House, Bill Clinton's, that is, and be uncritical about his service. In many respects, Clinton was wrong. Wrong on the crime bill, many Black people think.

Wrong on welfare reform, many Black people think. There are a number of things that Bill Clinton was wrong about, even on behalf of these Black people who people think he seems to like or love. I only raise that because what I'm getting from you now, and I wanna just give you a chance to explain more, I'm getting from you now an uncritical critique of George W. Bush. So maybe I haven't given you enough chance to speak yet. But is your assessment of the President, as a Black American, completely uncritical?

Christie: No. I don't think that we can look at any of our politicians or any of the people who are in elective office and look at them and say that for goodness sakes, everything they've done has been a hundred percent straight down the line perfect.

Tavis: So now that you're not in the White House no more, you ain't gonna lose your job. You got a book that's selling copies of it. Tell me what issues you have with George W. Bush.

Christie: Well, one of the things I would like to see the President do, and he's started to do and will continue to do, is to make more specific inroads and more specific outreach to communities of color. And what I mean by that is I would love to see him travel to different communities, to hear unfiltered, directly from the people who live in these communities, what are the issues that confront them?

What's on their mind? What concerns them? One of the things that's very difficult for being a President of The United States, whether you're Republican or a Democrat, is that your time is very highly regulated. Folks are moving you along from one meeting to another. I want him to take the risk, to take the opportunity to roll up his sleeves, and he's done it before and he will do it again, but to do more of that in the future.

Because I think that's when people say, hey, you know what? George Bush, he's for real. He came in, he talked to us. We hit him on some very difficult questions for some very difficult issues. He answered the questions.

Tavis: When you say take the risk, there are some folk who feel that there are politicians in this country, I mean politicians, Democrat and Republicans, this is not to cast aspersion on Republicans. But there are some who feel that politicians, both Democrat and Republican, who happen to be White are, to your point, afraid to take that risk because they're uncomfortable in these settings.

Don't really want to hear critical critique of their administrations or their service, whatever it might be. What's your sense of whether or not the President doesn't do more of that because he doesn't want to hear it, or because he's afraid to engage those audiences that are different from his base, as it were?

Christie: Neither, actually. I had the opportunity to travel with him right before I left in December of 2003, to Shiloh Baptist Church right outside of Washington in Alexandria, Virginia. It was a hundred percent African American church, and it was a group. It was for the Angel Tree program, which dealt with children who might have had one or both of their parents who are incarcerated.

The President went there, with the first lady, not because he was trying to score political points, not because he was trying to cozy up to the base. But because they were needy children who he was going to distribute presents with the first lady. And he wanted to be there, as the President of The United States, representing all Americans and say, here's a little love.

Here's a little compassion at Christmastime. So, I reject, frankly, the assertion that there are those who say oh, George Bush doesn't like being in a Black audience. He does, Tavis. That's why I say one of my criticisms, I wish he would do more of it, because people responded to him. He had an unfiltered view of what was on the minds of ordinary American people that he might not have had a chance to hear.

Tavis: Black folk in the White House, as you well known, is not a new phenomenon. And I don't mean just in the kitchen, either, so, thankfully, we've gotten out of the kitchen now in the White House. So Black folk in the White House is not a new phenomenon. But I am curious, though, from your perspective, to what extent you can shed light on this, of what you think the difference is in your being a Black Republican in the White House, versus a Black Democrat in the White House.

Christie: Well, of course, this is a Republican administration. The first term of the Bush presidency, he received nine percent of the African American vote, and in his reelection, 12 percent. So obviously, there are not as many African Americans who identify with the Republican Party as identify with the Democratic Party.

But I use that as an opportunity. And I use that, frankly, as a very valuable tool for me to talk to my colleagues, to speak with the President, to speak with the Vice President, and to shed light on issues of our community. For goodness sakes, owning a home and having a piece of the American dream is one of the most important things that all of us try to do.

But African American homeownership has specifically has been lower when opposed to other Americans. So I thought what sort of policies can we do, what sort of policies can we enact, that will make a difference in the life of African Americans? So I used my position as an opportunity to be a sounding board, to be a resource.

For goodness sakes, one of the earliest lunches that I had with the Vice President was pulling together a kitchen cabinet for him and saying, Mr. Vice President, here are five different people from five different walks of life. We're all African Americans.

Let us paint a portrait to you of how we see African Americans and Black America right now, in meaningful ways that we can make a difference. And so, that was a very valuable opportunity for me in that administration.

Tavis: You may have just answered it. In 20 seconds, though, tell me what you think, Republican or Democrat, what the value is, principally, of having Black folk in the White House.

Christie: I think that the strength of the United States is our diversity, and the diversity of the United States is our strength. And by having people from different walks of life, different socioeconomic backgrounds, different races, different religions, who are advising the most important people of the world, it's a benefit for all of Americans. Because those policies that affect us all, we need as many different inputs as possible to help shape the course of the nation.

Tavis: He is former White House advisor Ron Christie. His new book is "Black in the White House, Life Inside George W. Bush's West Wing.' Mr. Christie, nice to have you on this program.

Christie: Tavis, it's a pleasure.

Tavis: Glad to have you here.

Christie: Thank you.

Tavis: Up next on this program, a look at the provocative new reality series, speaking of race, "Black. White." on the FX Channel, with producers Ice Cube and R.J. Cutler. Should be a fascinating dialogue. Stay with us, we're back in just a moment.