More (Color)Blindness From Bush

I haven't noted this, but it's worthy of mention that President Bush's choice of Carlos Gutierrez as his new Commerce Secretary again demonstrates a lot about our President, and a bit about the gulf between Democrats and Republicans on the issue of affirmative action.

Gutierrez is a wonderful example of an immigrant success story, and a terrific example of the opportunity America affords to people. He's a Cuban-born exile to the U.S. who started his career with Kellogg driving Forsted Flakes delivery trucks in Mexico City and eventually became the CEO of the company. He should be held up as a role model, and it's good to see him accept a position with the Bush Administration.

Of less significance to me (and probably to President Bush) is Gutierrez's ethnic background. Yes, he's Hispanic, and that's wonderful, but he's there on merit, not on color. Bush has a great track record of selecting people he thinks are qualified without regard to skin color or gender -- Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Rod Paige, Elaine Chao, etc. In doing so, he ends up with something similar to Clinton's idea of a Cabinet that "looks like America", but without any public claim about doing so. This is unlike Clinton -- recall that he selected Janet Reno for AG after his first two nominees, both women with federal experience, tanked due to issues related to having nannies who were illegal immigrants. Rich Lowry in Legacy noted that Hillary insisted that the AG be a woman, and Clinton was hamstrung with a lack of available candidates once his first two candidates were bounced. Instead of perhaps looking for a more qualified candidate, he went out got a D.A. from Miami, because he wanted to put a woman in the post. And we got eight years of Reno, who should make people shudder a lot more than Ashcroft.

Hey, Republicans do this at times, too -- W. 's father nominated Clarence Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall with the rationale that he needed to nominate an African-American to succeed an But I think it's important to note that Bush is genuinely looking for good people in selecting his advisors, a trait that's very admirable in our society.