>>>>I do believe that the fact that she is black had a lot to do with Bush's decision<<
yes, but out of respect to the person you ought to give her the benefit of the doubt b/c you don't KNOW. it is not fair to her to have that weight laid on her - especially if it is not true - something you nor i will ever KNOW.<<
SB -
My point was not that Ms. Rice is unqualified. I think she's highly qualified, as I have stated in other posts. However, much is being made in the press about how great it is that Bush is appointing women and minorities to high posts. My point was that he undoubtedly had that exact reaction in mind when he announced these appointments first, but I am not implying that race or gender were the only considerations. I was slamming Bush, not Rice.
In the post to which I originally responded, you said that liberals don't like it when conservatives appoint conservative minorities. I believe that the events of this week demonstrate that that isn't true.
Allow me to elaborate.
Just last night I heard a liberal radio talk show host on KGO in San Jose, going on and on about how great it is for Bush to be appointing people like Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell. He went on to say that Ms. Rice is unqualified in many ways, because she is an expert on Russia, but not on the Middle East and other regions. What I want to know is, why does this man believe it's a good thing to appoint minorities even if they aren't really qualified?
As I said, I disagree with him about Rice's qualifications, and I really don't see the logic of his position. He indicated that he felt that these first Bush appointments show how far we've come in this country.
What burns me is seeing and hearing all these media types talking about these appointees, and leading with the fact that they are female, black, hispanic, etc., as if that's the most important thing about any of them.
I am glad that minorities won't be excluded from high level posts in the Bush administration, but I don't think this signals an end to discrimination. We'll know this country has made some real progress toward ending discrimination when, just as an example, someone appoints a black lesbian to the Supreme Court, and the stories in the press don't mention her race, gender or sexual orientation in the first sentence.
- Allen
PS: I'm sure that if Bush's first four appointees were all white men, we would have heard a negative reaction from the left. Once again, the race and gender, not the qualifications of the appointees would have been the first concern. |
