Obama at Seneca Falls: Symbol vs Reality

President Obama visited the historical site of Seneca Falls with a copy of the Lily Ledbetter Act and Ms. Ledbetter herself on the 22nd.  Seneca Falls is home to the historic park celebrating the 1848 Women’s Convention.  Celebrations of Women’s Day occur all over the country to commemorate the event.

At the visitors center, Obama greeted people waiting near bronze statues of the likenesses of Elizabeth Coy Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Martha Coffin Wright and Thomas and Mary Ann M’Clintock. “This is a really lifelike display,” Obama joked.

Obama told the assembled people that he was visiting Seneca Falls because “we want to make a little contribution.”

“Please!” one woman responded. “We’ll take it.”

Obama presented the visitors center with a copy of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, the first bill he signed into law. Obama also presented a copy of the remarks he delivered at the signing ceremony

Written on the signed copy of his speech text was: “It’s an honor to visit Seneca Falls and recall the righteous struggle that found expression here. I’m also proud to add an example of Lilly Ledbetter’s leadership to your collection. Thanks for all you do to honor the character and perseverance of America’s women.”

America’s women continue to lag in Pay Equity and in jobs that reflect true power.   Today’s NYT reminds that President himself could do better by women.

Behind the roiling conversation over whether President Obama might make Janet L. Yellen the first female leader of the Federal Reserve is an uncomfortable reality for the White House: the administration has named no more women to high-level executive branch posts than the Clinton administration did almost two decades ago.

The White House has taken steps to even its gender balance in recent months with high-profile nominationslike Samantha Power as ambassador to the United Nations and Susan E. Rice as national security adviser. But by most measures of gender diversity, including the proportion of women at the cabinet level, the executive branch looks little different from 20 years ago, even as the House of Representatives, the Senate and corporate America have placed significantly more women in senior roles.

“There’s room for improvement, and we’ve seen some missed opportunities,” said Debbie Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “We’re all watching the Fed to see what will happen there.”

Mr. Obama is choosing from a small pool of candidates for the Federal Reserve position — probably the most important economic appointment he will make in his second term. The finalists include Ms. Yellen, the Fed’s current vice chairwoman and a former Clinton administration official. The favored candidate among several top Obama aides is Lawrence H. Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Obama economic adviser.

Even Beltway Bob makes note of this.

The reason the Obama administration’s record appointing women is worse than the Clinton administration’s record is that the Obama administration keeps choosing not to appoint qualified women. Administration officials passed over Flournoy for ex-Sen. Chuck Hagel. They passed over Brainard for Jack Lew. They passed over acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank — yes, she served under Clinton, too — for CEA chair. It looks likely that they’ll pass over Yellen for Larry Summers.

(It’s worth noting that this isn’t the case when it comes to judicial appointments, where Obama has named more women to the federal bench than Clinton did, including two women to the Supreme Court.)

The argument from inside the Obama administration is that they simply choose the best person for the job. But there’s no scientific test for “best person for the job.” These are close calls — and, in many cases, strange ones. Flournoy would’ve made much more sense as Defense Secretary. Brainard had far more experience at Treasury than Lew. Yellen has much broader support for the Fed job than Summers.

Moreover, these are all people the Obama administration chose to entrust with enormous responsibility by giving them the number-two positions at their various agencies, and all of them receive high marks for their performance. They just keep getting passed over for the top job (though obviously the final decision hasn’t been made with Yellen).

Frankly, Yellen is an acid test for me.  We’ll see exactly what the President does when the appointment comes up.