It may be hard to believe but it’s time to face facts: George W. Bush really does support affirmative action. He just doesn’t quite want to admit it.
For example, we know that race, gender and ethnicity had nothing to do with George W. Bush’s Cabinet picks. How do we know? We know this because his handlers and spokespeople and spin doctors told us so.
But Bush has not told us so. Quite the opposite. When he was asked if the racial and gender diversity of his Cabinet was meant to send a message, he replied, “You bet!”
And what might that message be? “That people who work hard and make the right decisions in life can achieve anything they want in America,” he said.
That’s a worthy message that expresses much of what Americans find truly inspiring about the American dream–and what better way for him to illustrate that message than in the diversity of his Cabinet picks.
But whatever you do, if you’re George W. Bush, don’t call it affirmative action. That would mean racial quotas. That would mean hiring people because they are female or a person of color, whether they were qualified for the job or not.
How do we know this? Again, we know it because the critics of affirmative action tell us so.
Some of them are the same people who ridiculed Bill Clinton when he promised to produce a Cabinet that “looks like America.”
Now that Bush has tried to produce the same thing by nominating four women, two African-Americans, two Hispanic-Americans and one Asian-American, we hear from his defenders that, well, those guys and gals were “tokens,” our guys and gals are “qualified.”
Yes, Bush’s candidates are qualified, whether you agree with all of their politics or policies or not. But by the same standard, so were Clinton’s Cabinet members.
If Bush’s Cabinet looks superqualified it is partly because it has a bona fide superstar, retired Gen. Colin Powell, on it. Most Americans would like for Powell to be president, judging by the polls. But for now, secretary of state will do.
Indeed, I am one of the many who is disappointed Powell has not run for president. I am eager to find out whether America truly is ready to elect a supremely qualified president who happens to be black.
In the meantime, it is instructive to remember why Powell has been a vocal defender of affirmative action. His own history shows how easily one can act affirmatively to expand opportunities without setting quotas or sacrificing quality.
In case you haven’t heard the story, back when Jimmy Carter was president, his secretary of the Army, Clifford Alexander, received a list of colonels to be promoted to general. As Alexander later explained to me, he was dissatisfied with its shortage of women and non-whites so he sent the list back. He asked for a longer list, one that would include a more diverse pool of applicants. A colonel named Colin Powell was on that second list.
Clinton promised to do no more than widen the pool of candidates in a similar manner when he said he wanted a Cabinet that looked like America. Unfortunately, his approach began to look uncomfortably exclusionary for men when he picked women to replace failed female nominees, not once, but twice. Either that was an amazing coincidence or Clinton never really gave white men much consideration.
Does this mean that Linda Chavez’s withdrawal Tuesday requires Bush to name a non-Hispanic male to the secretary of labor post, just to prove he doesn’t have a quota? That would be appropriate since Chavez is such a vocal opponent of what she calls racial and gender “quotas.” Either way, it should not reflect on the talents of the chosen candidate. It is the enemies of affirmative action, not its defenders, who say that it requires the hiring of unqualified people. It only opens up opportunities for additional candidates. Once they have the job they’re on their own.
It is unfortunate that Bush’s own father muddied the debate when he appointed Clarence Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall on the U.S. Supreme Court. The elder Bush did Thomas no favors by calling him the “best qualified lawyer” to take the seat. With all due respect to Thomas, there were many other lawyers who were more qualified. Some of them were even black Republicans.
But, the elder Bush decided not to widen his pool of candidates that far. The critics of affirmative action in the Republican Party’s conservative wing told him not to.
With that, the elder Bush demonstrated one of the world’s oldest forms of affirmative action. It is called “political payback.”
