Sandra and George's Diversity Garden Party

Everybody's got a compelling interest.

Robert A. George | June 24, 2003

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If not standing up for principle, at least O'Connor and Bush are standing up for reality. Diversity as a compelling interest? It's something that has been understood in the context of the politics of the Court for decades. It's why there is a so-called "Jewish" seat. It's why a black conservative (Clarence Thomas) replaced a black liberal (Thurgood Marshall).

For Republicans to pretend otherwise insults the intelligence. (Indeed the cynicism of the GOP can be awesome to behold. The 1996 Republican convention 1996 featured a well-placed black child with AIDS. At the 2000 convention, the stage was filled with black people. Meanwhile, political operatives wistfully ruminated that Bush's 1992 loss prevented the rise of a ticket that "was supposed to be Quayle-[Clarence]Thomas.")

If today's Democrats use race, i.e. charges of racism, as a club, today's Republicans use it as a shield. Last year, when asked by a reporter about NAACP criticism on his commitment to civil rights, Bush responded brusquely, "Let's see: There I was, sitting around ... the table with foreign leaders, looking at (Secretary of State) Colin Powell and Condi (National Security Advisor Condoleezza) Rice." Bush feels that appointing blacks in prominent positions protects him from criticism on civil rights grounds.

Which is probably what more than a few business leaders feel as well.

Of course, diversity is a compelling force in society. Even the Republicans play it.

The Republican National Committee, of course, employs a regular supply of racial outreach staffers (including, at one time, this writer) to help expand the party. They are given tasks such as calling black members of the press (including this one a week or so back) to see if the reporter would like to be made available for media inquiries when the University of Michigan inquiries came down.

Cognitive dissonance? Not in politics.

After the Trent Lott fiasco, Republicans scurried around to distance themselves from their fallen comrade while showing that they were "down" with the cause of inclusion. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, probably one of the members most opposed to affirmative action, held a press conference where he proudly showed off resumes of black Republicans and pledged to bring more minorities on staff.

Of course, his comment, "One of our problems was, in the hiring of African-Americans, we can't find good conservative African-Americans to work for us," suggested that he still had a way to go. The statement may have been factually true, i.e., there aren't many blacks signing up for Republican campaigns, but it was a little to close to "good help is so hard to find these days."

George W. Bush wants to be a different kind of Republican—which is to say, a JFK/LBJ Democrat. Though he announced his opposition to the University of Michigan programs on Martin Luther King's birthday (awkward timing that), he enthusiastically endorsed the rulings that came down.

What else could he do? Sunday's Washington Post reminded voters that, "In 2002...the White House and the national party committees told GOP candidates that if they wanted to receive financial and other assistance, they had to include in their campaign plan a commitment, backed up with money, to bid for the Latino vote, including the use of Spanish-language media where possible. The same will be true in 2004."

Recall that this is the same Republican Party that pushed English as the U.S. official language just a few years ago. But now, under George W. Bush, it has, dare we say it, a compelling interest in appearing diverse.

Just like academia.

Just like the military.

Just like corporate America.

Just like the Supreme Court.

It's Sandra Day O' Connor's world. The rest of us are just trying to figure out how to live in it.