Conservatives have long downplayed the benefits of diversity in public institutions, calling race, ethnicity, and gender conscious hiring a misguided "quota" policy. That's why it's no surprise that while campaigning in Las Vegas earlier this month, Mitt Romney told Pakistani American businessman Mansoor Ijaz that he didn't see having Muslims in the presidential cabinet as a benefit in the fight against Islamic terrorism. "Based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration," Romney said. Ijaz responds to the exchange in a Christian Science Monitor op-ed called "A Muslim Belongs in the Cabinet." What Romney doesn't seem to understand is that having close Muslim advisors wouldn't be about reflecting the population of the United States in the cabinet -- although that would be a beautiful thing. Rather, it's about giving culturally competent, bilingual Middle East experts a chance to have their voices heard in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy. Who's better equipped than they to revitalize America's image in the Muslim world? Karen Hughes? --Dana Goldstein
