Nominations demonstrate a renewed commitment to diversity

Last night I watched a very talented African American orator accept his party’s nomination for the presidency of the United States, as did millions of Americans of every race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc. I enjoyed his message, and since Barack Obama had effectively secured his nomination a few months back and Hillary Clinton had released her delegates, I was not at all surprised. Until this morning.

After a brief meeting this morning, I returned to my office to find the news sites brimming with news of Senator John McCain’s choice for vice president of our great nation: Alaska governor Sarah Palin. I was particularly surprised because the senior senator from Arizona had managed to keep her nomination tightly under wraps, ushering her in as a dark horse on his list of potential running mate choices.

Here are the candidates for the upcoming election in November: for president on the Democrat side, Barack Obama, an African American, with Joe Biden, of English heritage on his father's side and Irish heritage on his mother's side as his running mate. For president on the Republican side, John McCain, a former Vietnam War POW of Scotch-Irish and English ancestry, with Sarah Palin (the first female governor of Alaska), who just happens to be married to a man of Yup'ik (an Eskimo people of western and southwestern Alaska) ancestry.

On the surface, it might seem that both tickets were orchestrated with the clear intention of garnering the missing votes each party seeks. But I am much more of an optimist, and I do believe that a certain degree of sincerity remains in American politics, even at the highest level.

Consider the milestones broken in the just the last 48 hours: the first African American from either party has accepted the nomination for President, and the second woman in US history has been nominated for vice president, and will accept that nomination in the coming week.

No matter what your political leanings are, diversity in the corporate suite (where arguably it is lacking the most) has just scored a major victory. Because no matter who wins this election, either an African American will have ascended to the highest office in the land or a woman will have garnered the highest position of any woman in US history.

To be completely honest with you, at first it seemed to me that today’s announcement of Governor Palin as Senator McCain’s running mate was a case of diversity one-upmanship. But that thought quickly left me as I thought of the implications of his choice, as well as some of the notable diversity appointments and choices that past administrations have made throughout my lifetime:

• Ronald W. Reagan: Appointed Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court Justice (1981)

• George H.W. Bush: Appointed Clarence Thomas as the second African American to serve on the nation's highest court (1991)

• William J. Clinton: Appointed Madeleine Albright the first woman Secretary of State (1996) and Ron Brown he first African American Secretary of Commerce (1993)

• George W. Bush: Appointed Elaine Chao secretary of Labor, the first Chinese American and the first Asian-American woman to be appointed to a President's cabinet in American history (2001). Also appointed Colin Powell the first African American Secretary of State (2001), Condoleezza Rice as the first African American Woman Secretary of State (2005), and Alberto Gonzales as the first Hispanic to serve as United States Attorney General.

Diversity at the highest levels of government has clearly increased in my lifetime, and the choices presented to the nation demonstrate a renewed commitment to diversity in a nation that is becoming more diverse with every passing day. My hope is that this commitment to diversity at the executive level of government will trickle down and increase workplace diversity throughout the nation.