Are you not inspired and uplifted by the story of Carlos Gutierrez?

When Gutierrez was but six years old, he and his family left their home in Havana, Cuba, for a vacation in Miami, unaware that they would never return to their homeland.

Fidel Castro and his communists took over the island, confiscated the pineapple exporting business and property of Carlos Gutierrez's father, and prohibited his family from returning. The Gutierrez family was forced to start anew in an unfamiliar place with an uncertain future. Carlos's father worked for Heinz and began another business, though it was hit hard by a recession and Carlos had to again find a new direction.

Carlos jumped at an opportunity with the Kellogg Company's sales and marketing training program in 1975, and worked his way up the company all over North America. In 1999, Carlos Gutierrez became CEO of Kellogg's and transformed the staid company into a dynamic business with the ability to roll with changes in the breakfast food market. In 2005, Carlos Gutierrez will become Secretary of Commerce of the United States of America.

Gutierrez is another of President George W. Bush's bright shining lights, and another reason why the President is carving out a special, historic legacy and why those who support him do so with such enthusiasm. Contrary to what leftists and Democrats believe, the President's supporters do not appreciate President Bush because he allegedly speaks the language of Jesus—loving gun nuts. The President is appreciated for fundamental reasons: he has core human values, articulates them, and acts upon them. These values aren't exactly what most people think of when they hear that word. The President's values do indeed include a strong faith in God and the importance of religion to his life. Yet he believes just as strongly in the promise of America for all of her people.

President Bush's recent Cabinet nominations (and the appointees from the first term) suggest a team that truly 'looks like America.' Next year, there will be a black female Secretary of State, a Hispanic Attorney General, and a Cuban—born Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of Education is a woman, as is the White House counsel. A black man has a better—than—decent chance at being nominated as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when William Rehnquist leaves the bench. Given this array of officials in power, you might imagine that leftists would think they had died and gone to Heaven, otherwise known as the place where Jed Bartlett sits in the Oval Office. The President will get no credit at all from the more vile elements of the left who have characterized this President as the second coming of Hitler, but none is necessary. President Bush's actions speak for themselves — and so do theirs.

The common thread among the Bush appointees isn't the diversity of their race and gender. This President, unlike his predecessor, is not interested in appointing minorities to fill some Jesse Jackson—imposed quota, regardless of fitness for office or personal character. What these appointees have in common is an uncommon competence in their chosen fields, and individual willpower that has continually smashed any and all barriers in their way. These appointees represent the America in which President Bush believes, and the America that he wants to present to the world. President Bush believes in the individualism that is uniquely American, the faith that any man and any woman can succeed in this place. These appointees represent that ethic and the best the nation has to offer — nothing more, nothing less.

Is this not what we want in a President of the United States? President Bush has the grand vision that his father tried desperately to grasp, and that Kennedy apologists have claimed only for themselves in spreading the myth of 'Camelot.' The President is attempting to spread democracy to the Arab world while simultaneously defeating the enemies of human freedom and spirit. Domestically, President Bush wants to tackle the tax code and initiate a reform of the courts that would shake the legal profession to its core, especially a certain ambulance chaser who was nearly elected Vice President of the United States. This agenda is a bit grander than V—chips, cops on the street, and forever spinning scandal and shame. The roster of his team is a glittery set of American greatness. When he is finished, President Bush will retreat to Texas ('Where I'm from and where I'm going,' as he says) and most likely keep quiet about his legacy and his mark on history, sort of like a modern—day Cincinnatus. Yet his will have been a consequential Presidency. His administration will have been meaningful and groundbreaking.

President Bush dreams big dreams and the nominations of the past few weeks have reinforced to the nation his vision of who we are and what we can become as a country and as a people. Those of us who share his vision of our nation dream big, too, dreaming of a day, for example, when President Condoleezza Rice receives a dispatch from the free Republic of Cuba, informing her that former Commerce secretary and new Cuban president Carlos Gutierrez has just shoved the dictator Castro his first meal in prison while awaiting trial.

A bowl of Froot Loops, of course.

Matt May can be reached at matthewtmay@yahoo.com; his blog address is mattymay.blogspot.com