Appointments Like Us

As BB pointed out in this morning’s reads, there is a distinct lack of diversity showing up in Obama’s cabinet appointments.  It would be easy for me to drag out the old MS magazine cover showing Obama as the new vision of Feminism for ridicule. I could also send out a few calls for Romney’s binders filled with women.  But, the original picture and the visual of all those white guys and the leg of Valerie Jarret still just seems to be the best representation of the bigger problem.

Today, the president appointed the 4th white male in a row to what are considered the top cabinet positions.  Obama’s second term is the result of an election that showed the decreasing representation of white men in the populace.  It’s obviously not trickling up to the positions of power and voices that will be heard, be counted, and will matter when setting policy.  I’m wondering what white man will become chief of staff at this point.

The topic of diversity in the Obama administration was also raised by the press.  Jay Carney–white male–parried questions from the front row of the self-serving and pleased White House Press Corps.  Btw, they are all white men too.   But, it’s not just the women that have noticed that the advisers on major economic policies and issues on deck for the next four years seem to come from that same old boys groups.   Don’t the people that vote for you get a seat at your table? Aren’t we among the powerful and qualified now?

“The first black president,” MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing began, “and he’s getting questions about diversity. Are these questions fair? Are you concerned?”

Rangel replied that he is concerned and the questions about a lack of diversity in the White House are fair.

“It’s embarrassing as hell,” Rangel said. “We were very hard on Mitt Romney – with his women binder, and a variety of things – and, I kind of think there’s no excuse when it’s the second term.”

Rangel said that there could be “the Harvard problem” at work in this instance. He said that women and minorities simply do not have the access to high ranking officials in Washington and, thus, are rarely promoted to positions of authority.

That said, Rangel thought that, after four years, there was no excuse for the president to not have a qualified stable of minorities and women to promote to high ranking posts in the White House.

“He’s had four years to work the bench, to work the second team, so that – in the second term – these people should be just as experienced as any other American,” Rangel concluded.

The conversation has already become uncivil as seen on Morning Joe this morning.

The issue of diversity took up the entire segment, but started to grow contentious when the BBC’s Katty Kay sought to downplay the lack of diversity in Obama’s cabinet while noting that Mitt Romney‘s “binders full of women” comment resonated because it reinforced the “1950s” attitude some perceived him having toward women.

“This is what’s wrong with political reporting,” Scarborough charged. The left took a “faux pas” and blew it up — but in Obama’s case, they’re talking about “something that matters.” Actual cabinet positions. That led to some back-and-forth between the two, who plainly disagreed.

As the segment went on, Brzezinski noted that Susan Rice could have been another woman in Obama’s cabinet had Republicans not “routed” her out. “Talk about old guys being completely chauvinistic jerks,” she remarked, as Scarborough noted David Axelrod‘s assertion that Rice hadn’t been considered for the Secretary of State position. Brzezinski countered that the president’s policies speak to his commitment to women’s issues.

Still, the show went on… until Scarborough’s joking around proved to be too much for Brzezinski who told him, “You’re being chauvinistic right now.” She can make personal attacks, Scarborough retorted, but “you’ve got a president you worship on this show every day.” Yet she “savaged” Romney. Had the president been Republican, she’d have been upset about the issue, he argued.

“You really — knowing me and seeing me work around here for five years — you want to call me a chauvinist on television?” Scarborough asked, with Brzezinski replying that she wasn’t calling him that.

“I said the way you’re acting is chauvinistic,” she responded, “especially the way you were handling this conversation. It’s not funny.”

 I liked The Cycle‘s Chrystal Ball’s call to Obama to “Do Better”.  It’s a short video op ed and worth the watch.

Irin Carmon at Salon also writes about Obama’s White House: Still white, overwhelmingly male saying that “The stale sameness of the president’s second-term Cabinet picks belies the administration’s rhetoric on diversity.”   BB included this link this morning and it was a compelling read and worth repeating.

Today on TV,  I’ve watched Joe Biden take point on gun violence just shortly after taking the lead on the latest rounds of negotiations on the budget, tax, and spending deals.  Yet, look at whose lives are overwhelmingly impacted by gun violence or by cuts in government spending and obsessive tax cutting for rich people?  Is it folks like Biden?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few voices at that bargaining table that realize what’s at stake?  There has to be more to policy making that putting Washington DC insiders and power players at the head of the table.  There are many qualified women and minorities that have come in through the ranks of the state department, the pentagon, the treasury, and many businesses.  The most feared person by Wall Street this days is grandmother and Senator Elizabeth Warren.  The two people most involved with gun violence prevention laws have been victims of violence or close to victims of gun violence themselves.  That would be Senator Dianne Feinstein and Long Island Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy.  They’ve been on top of the gun violence issue since starting out in federally elected  positions.  How about any black member of congress representing an urban district?  Couldn’t they have a place at the table along with Joe Biden instead of being shuttled in for an interview with the likes of the NRA lobbyist?

Andrea Mitchell points out that Obama’s Cabinet is Deja Vu all over again.  New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen appeared on the program calling the appointments disappointing.

On Thursday, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen called the lack of women among the new appointees “disappointing.” Shaheen, whose state elected the nation’s first all-female delegation in November–-with two female senators, a female governor, and two congresswomen–appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports Thursday to discuss the new White House cabinet and the importance of women in government.

“I would hope the president would follow New Hampshire’s lead,” Shaheen told Mitchell, pointing to the fact that women account for half of the population of the United States. “He still has an opportunity,” she added. “He has places where he could appoint women, and I hope he’ll  take a look and do that.”

As for Jack Lew’s soon-to-be-open post as chief of staff, the front runners are Denis McDonough and Ron Klain. McDonough, a current Obama advisor, and Klain, a former chief of staff to vice President Biden, are also white men. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, one of the few women in the president’s cabinet, announced her resignation on Wednesday, leaving the White House with even fewer X chromosomes. This is not just a public relations problem for President Obama and his staff. According to Shaheen, it is a problem for democracy.

“We have different life experiences,” Shaheen told Andrea Mitchell. “We need a government that looks like America, so we can address the concerns that we hear from across the spectrum.”

It’s good that we’re at least getting some air time on this issue.  However, I really doubt it will do much good.  I guess we’ll see what happens with the next few appointments.  I should add that women’s groups shouldn’t be the only one’s complaining here.  I wonder if we’ll begin to see some folks offer up some binders full of Hispanics, African Americans, and other minorities too.  Oddly enough, as I published this, I just got an action email from NOW with the topic being “Where are the Women?”  It’s probably better put to ask where are the people that look like all of us who voted for you?