So far as I know there is exactly one office for which the Constitution promotes affirmative action:The Electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves . . .That means that the Constitution promotes the selection of a vice president whose very identity will help unify the country. And if the VP's identity matters, that means that other qualifications can be given lesser weight. So if a conservative black VP would help unify the country, it doesn't matter if he is someone whose credentials wouldn't be adequate for someone running for the presidency itself; hopefully the office of VP is mostly ceremonial and its holder never has to fill in for the patron who selected him.If you compare the office of president with that of a king, the office of vice president is actually analogous to that of a prince - except that in our constitutional republic, our "prince" only retains his office for a fixed term, and therefore is not actually expected to inherit the offices of "king" eventually. Thus, the office is mostly ceremonial - except to the extent that vice presidents tend to gain a leg up on the nomination of president when the president's term expires.
Anyway, my tagline is actually intended to promote the idea that a conservative black should be our VP candidate in this election. That kind of a nomination would hold the Democrats to a higher standard of what a black presidential contender should be like - just as patriotic as a white one should be. And if, as I expect, the Obama candidacy implodes and the Republican Party wins, a black taking office as VP would help unite the country and lessen what I think may be the possibility of serious riots if Obama loses in a landslide as he deserves to - not that McCain deserves that big an election, but . . .