Posted by Mark Silva at 6:20 pm CDT

The Rev. Jesse Jackson called this evening to say that “today is a step in the right direction,’’ with the Senate’s approval of the extension of the Voting Rights Act and the president’s commitment to sign that extension. But the key, Jackson maintained, will be the Bush administration’s commitment to federally enforce the voting act.

“It is a very significant day,’’ Jackson said. But “his commitment to enforcement as well as urban policy are what we’re looking for.’’

This is a day that began with the president’s appearance at the annual convention of the NAACP in Washington, his first during his nearly six years in office, and ended with congressional approval of a 25-year extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

But the question now, Jackson says, is Bush’s action “to enforce the laws.’’

Bush cited the late President Lyndon Johnson during his address to the NAACP today. But when Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, Jackson says, he also was waging a war on poverty – a confluence of events that offered African-Americans a lot of promise in the 1960s, more promise than appears on the horizon today.

Jackson plans to follow up on Bush’s offer today to arrange a meeting, with the president referring the civil rights leader today to Karl Rove, Bush’s chief political adviser.

But Bush also must meet with a "broad array: of civil rights leaders, Jackson said. The president appeared at the NAACP today in the company of a new leader whom Bush praised, Bruce Gordon. But the president had stayed away during the rule of a former NAACP leader, Kweisi Mfume, who was sharply critical of the president.

“He can’t just cherry-pick leadership,’’ Jackson suggested, “and say I like this and don’t like that one.’’