The Black Republican

In the Daily News, Michael Goodwin takes note of the very blackness of the Bush administration - and more importantly, the total absence of notice from the American people.

Against expectation, and without divisive debates over affirmative action and quotas, he has built an extraordinary record of minority appointments to his inner circle. He did it by sneaking them in the front door while everybody was watching.

Condoleezza Rice's nomination yesterday to be secretary of state is the latest and most dramatic example. That she would be the first black woman to hold the post - and that she would succeed Colin Powell, the first black man - is a groundbreaking moment in American racial history. Our original sinners would be shocked.

But we're not, and that, too, takes the breath away. America clearly is ready for a black official to be our representative to the world. And both Powell and Rice are so obviously qualified that it's as though race is not a factor for or against them.

Am I alone in thinking this is absolutely wonderful? That black people can now occupy some of the highest, most powerful offices in America - and nobody says boo about how they got there?

The MSM has been absolutely apoplectic since the election over the exit poll results suggesting many Americans voted for Republicans on values. But perhaps something was lost in all the buzz. To the extent that Americans voted for morality, this is the first time I've read anyone suggest the values we voted for were integration, tolerance, and anti-prejudice. If Republicans are so racist, as so many Democrats suggest we are, where are the riots and marches and cross-burnings across the Red fruited plain, in protest of the continued presence of black and brown skin in the halls of power and among the President's closest advisors?