Cynthia Tucker: In Powell and Rice, Bush broke important ground
December 1, 2008 by blackgirlgrown
Filed under obama, politics, race
Even though Barack Obama received less than 53 percent of the popular vote, his favorable rating stands at 67 percent. It appears that many conservatives who didn’t support him are nevertheless enthusiastic about his presidency and optimistic about his tenure.
How could it be otherwise? Americans were hungry for change, as was the rest of the planet. Obama’s victory has generated excitement around the world — among Muslims, Christians and Buddhists, Scandinavians and South Africans, democrats and autocrats — and helped to restore the moral authority of the U.S. As The Economist put it recently, “All of Europe is on the hunt for a European Barack Obama.”
The president-elect’s popularity stands in stark contrast to that of the man he is replacing. President Bush’s approval rating is stalled in the low 20s — and deservedly so. But Bush did at least one thing right in an eight-year tenure characterized by incompetence and hyper-partisanship: He appointed black Americans to the post of secretary of state, the highest position of authority blacks had held before Obama’s election.
Many pundits have already noted that Bush’s failures helped to create a climate in which Obama could win. So did Bush’s singular achievement — the elevation of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. It ought to be noted that it was a Republican, not a Democrat, who broke the barrier that had limited black appointees to the usual Cabinet positions dealing with housing and health.
Whatever their political failures, Powell and Rice are both bright, hardworking and honorable individuals. Their presence on the national stage, in positions that had nothing to do with affirmative action or “urban affairs,” helped white Americans get used to seeing black Americans in positions of great prestige.
