"Just a bunch of white people who didn't get it"

“And that’s not just a process thing ... because moving forward, the candidate made it very clear to us that we were just a bunch of white people who didn’t get it — which, by the way, was true" - an advisor on Obama's campaign team quoted in New York Times' nine-page filler on Valerie Jarrett, close friend and senior advisor to the President.

Called by the McCain team, the quote refers to the race card that Obama was accused of playing in one of his speeches on the campaign trail when he referred to himself as different from the "those other presidents on the dollar bills."

Of course, unintentional in itself, this one comment brought race forefront to the Obama campaign. Accepting that as a "white person," the campaign officers did not get racial implications of Obama's candidacy till Ms. Jarrett pointed it out to them, makes me think: if it became obvious to you that you would be, say, better-liked if you were race-conscious, would you consciously try to hire/promote a minority?

Would you make it a focal point of your job search and consciously comb through resumes with a predetermined idea of who you want to hire in terms of diverse background and not a skill set? Readers, leave us a comment or write to me at asingh@vault.com.