When a smart manager recruits talent for a basketball team, he travels the country – and even the globe – looking for a variety of skills. A shooting guard who plays city ball, a power forward from a farm town, a seven-foot-tall center from Europe – this mix of background and ability helps create a winning team, because everybody has something unique to contribute.

Likewise, a presidential Cabinet will be strongest when many backgrounds are represented. President Bush has succeeded in reconciling gender and racial differences in our nation by selecting the most diverse cabinet and advising staff to ever assist in governing the United States. He created it without any fanfare or exploitation; without alerting U.S. citizens about a “cabinet that will look like America” – *cough* President Clinton *cough* – and without seeking praise from civil-rights leaders.

The shame of it is, he gets no credit for this effort. Consider some of Bush’s past and future cabinet members:

Gale Norton is the first woman to ever hold the position of secretary of the interior.

Elaine Chao is the first Asian-American woman ever appointed to a presidential cabinet. She serves as the secretary of labor.

Rod Paige is an African-American who grew up in segregated Mississippi and is secretary of education. He is retiring and will be replaced by Margaret Spellings, a woman.

Colin Powell is the first African-American secretary of state.

Norman Mineta is the first Asian American to hold the position of secretary of transportation.

Alphonso Jackson is an African-American who serves as the secretary of housing and urban development .

Condoleezza Rice is the first female African-American national security adviser, soon to become President Bush’s choice as secretary of state.

Replacing John Ashcroft as attorney general is Alberto Gonzales, who will become the first Latino attorney general.

Carlos Gutierrez will become the first Latino secretary of commerce, replacing Don Evans.

What’s even better is that these people were not selected to be token representatives of diversity – they are some of Bush’s closest friends and advisers whom he has trusted since he began a career in politics.

Yet, minority leaders in Washington choose to play politics rather than applaud this victory for equality in our land of opportunity.

Rep. Charles Rangel ,D-N.Y., a senior black leader in Congress, overlooks this diversity and continues to bash Bush for a lack of diverse policies. On a political TV segment last week, Rangel voiced his displeasure with a diverse cabinet that is so conservative.

This criticism, and any like it, is only a self-serving attempt by some minorities in Washington to push a liberal agenda in the face of an enormous accomplishment. These selections should be lauded with great enthusiasm. Diversity is good for all of us.

If Sen. John Kerry had selected an equally diverse cabinet, we wouldn’t be able to turn a page in The New York Times without reading about how wonderfully “progressive” Kerry is and how “fantastic” it is to have a Democrat in office who ensures equal representation.

But, it’s Bush, and he’s a hatemonger and bigoted Republican, right? Move along folks, nothing to see here.

The fact is, the effect Bush’s cabinet will have on the Democratic Party is a devastating one. Younger minorities see opportunity in a party that welcomes diversity – the same party that defeated a white-dominated Kerry campaign staff. Slowly, and surely, they will begin to shift to the GOP.

Many faces of different colors live in our communities, attend our schools and work beside us; and finally, the faces we see in high-ranking positions in Washington are no longer completely white, Anglo-Saxon or Protestant.

Bush has recruited a unique team of players who are proven winners, but sadly, liberals would rather “wait ’till next year” instead of congratulate the coach now.