You know who we need right now? George W. Bush.

Let's give former President George W. Bush his due. As Matt Bai writes in the New York Times this week, Bush genuinely tried to build a multi-ethnic coalition of conservatives, in addition to his 2006 attempt at immigration reform. Bush successfully convinced huge numbers of Latino voters that their socially conservative values fit in with the Republican Party, and, personally, I think he showed tremendous leadership in the days after 9/11 when it would've been very easy to demonize all Muslims.

...which is kind of what's happening now. Suddenly the building of houses of worship is a political issue, particularly in the party that likes to think of itself as the defenders of the Constitution (which includes the right to freely practice religion). I think the reason we haven't heard President Obama address the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" is that he and his advisers understand that it would be pretty fruitless for someone whom over 40 percent of Republicans think is really Kenyan to defend Muslims. But for Bush to step in and tell his former base to lay off might actually have an impact. It wouldn't convince everyone. But it would probably make a lot of the people on the moderate border stop and think.

This could be a real Nixon-goes-to-China moment for Bush. His initial response to the 9/11 attacks, I believe, is one of the things that history will judge his administration got right. And I believe that his response was genuine, not some political calculation. Obviously I've never met him, but I've always gotten the vibe from Bush that he's someone with an innate sense of fair play when it came to individuals that he met or things he experienced personally. It's both his biggest strength and biggest weakness. He's the Republican Jimmy Carter.

Hear me out. There are people - you probably know some yourself - who pride themselves on their intuition and ability to read other people. They're right most of the time. But the downside is that a) they have problems empathizing with people in the abstract (that is, situations they haven't experienced personally), and b) they can be deceived by people who aren't as trustworthy as they themselves are. My dad's one of these people. He doesn't lie, so it would never occur to him that other people do.

Carter has had a successful career as a diplomat since leaving the presidency. Maybe Bush can, too.

Because it isn't just the Republicans that could use a reminder of their very recent past as the big tent for conservatives of any color. It's our entire country. Only 10 years ago, Democrats like me were looking at the very real possibility of losing Latinos to the GOP for a generation. Only four years ago, people like Sen. Lindsey Graham were pushing for a third way in immigration reform and changing the guest worker program. Now Graham is openly wondering if we should ditch the 14th Amendment. And Graham is a moderate Republican.

To his credit, Bush has kept a low profile since leaving office, which can't have been easy at times. But America needs Bush's voice right now. It certainly couldn't hurt.