Grade Obama’s Cabinet

Cathy, you’re right on target. This cabinet is 60% white males. Change my arse. Even Bush had a more diverse cabinet.

Grade of “A.” There is no litmus test of males v. females.

Easy for you to say, William.

Don’t forget that the Pres. makes thousands of appointments to federal positions at dozens of agencies. DL makes a great point.

perhaps those criticizing the women issue (overwhelmingly erroneously if you look at the numbers oy)
can also take a look at diversity of culture and view as well
instead of judging on one issue that he is ahead of the curve on still…ugh
maybe you can look at THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE JOB
your statements are the ones that give the rest of us fighting for equality for women etc…an extra challenge.

Please tell me “dl” you are not seriously proposing that there are a lack of exceptionally qualified female candidates for Attorney General, Health and Human Services, Commerce, Budget, Chief of Staff. The only area your proposition might hold water is in the military arena. Change your clock. It’s 2008.

A
ahh, how nice to have people I trust running the government, for a change.

thank you “dl”

I GIVE MYSELF A ZERO!!!
ZEROBAMA

It is not a matter of just naming a bunch of good, able, experienced women. It is a matter of matching all of that with the job requirements. How do the personal strengths and experiences equate to the job at hand? Or are you saying simply that BECAUSE they are women they should get the job, period? Naive as hell.

Obama ‘s cabinet is nothing but retreads, where is the CHANGE?

Ask us again in 14 months…..

cathy,
Did it ever occur to you that many are asked but few accept to serve in the cabinet?
Obama asked at least half of those women on your list.
Also, please note that there is only one Secretary of State and only one Homeland Security Chief and only one Commerce Secretary, etc., etc., etc.
It is impossible to make everyone a Cabinet Secretary no matter how hard Obama tries.
Some people may prefer to be Governor or Congress Woman rather than server as an Assitant Secretary OK.
Get a grip babe.

Obama needs people needs people with experience. So naturally a lot of people are coming in that served under Clinton. What other option is there, pick people that served under bush/cheney. There is good experience and bad experience and I’m glad to see Obama picking good experienced people.

Joyce, Joyce, Joyce! Change is not a bunch of inexperienced rookies no one knows! Get real. Any president wants the best, most experienced hands he can find for his Cabine. HE sets the agenda for change.

Not me, Cathy. I LOVE WOMEN. Just ask my wife and girlfriend. They’ll both tell you so. LOL

maureen,
You ask them and they will tell you.
Obama is the one that makes the final decision on what is offered to whom.
Hillary for example would have loved to be VP but that was offered to Biden.
Hillary almost turned down the SoS position. Would you have blamed Obama if she turned it down?
Many of those women may have been offered positions they did not like so they turned them down.
Go and tell Kerry how it feels to be refused a position you really want.
Some of you will never be satified except Obama offers a woman the Presidency. Unfortunately he can’t. We elect the President.

Janet,
Here are Bush’s first appointments to the same positions: C. Powell (State), Rumsfeld (Defense), Rice (NSA), Paul O’Neil (Treasury), Ashcroft (AG), Negroponte (UN), Thompson (H&HS), Evans (Commerce), Daniels (Budget), Card (CofS) and Lindsey (Econ Council).
That’s 10 white males, 1 AA male and 1 AA female. How’s that more diversified than Obama’s?
Some of you guys are so trigger happy to criticize Obama that you toss out easily verifiable nonsense to make your case.

Keller: I understand your point and I will gladly eat my words if at least 3 more female nominations for cabinet are coming. Don’t forget, Bush also had women at Interior, Agriculture, and Labor when he started.

Omentum, in Education circles there is a technique called a “pre-test” and then “post-test.” On the first day of class, you administer a pre-test to determine the extent of knowledge in the class. Then you test again at the end to determine what has been learned, i.e. the post-test. So far I’d say the pre-test grade is A or A-. But then again, anything can happen. As you pointed out, Rumsfeld would likely get a pre-test grade of A, only to end up failing the course.

Omentum, in Education circles there is a technique called a “pre-test” and then “post-test.” On the first day of class, you administer a pre-test to determine the extent of knowledge in the class. Then you test again at the end to determine what has been learned, i.e. the post-test. So far I’d say the pre-test grade is A or A-. But then again, anything can happen. As you pointed out, Rumsfeld would likely get a pre-test grade of A, only to end up failing the course.
Posted by: William J. LePetomaine | Dec 1, 2008 3:56:14 PM
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point taken
I agree.

Some of you Feminist need to check yourselves.
Diversity is a Multi-Leveled, Multi-Teered Word and it encompasses an Array of Talent, from Various Groups.
Change in of of itself is Proven over TIME….
Good, Bad Or Indifferent.
Obama is not even Sworn in and you Demanding Feminist are ragging over not having the White House overrun with [White Females] in EVERY Capacity of the Obama-Biden Administration….
OK
President Elect OBama, please have a Majority [White Female Cabinet] and see where that will LEAD…
A Big Damn Disastor !!!
Better still, Obama Choose who you want in your Administration…
Because some People will Never be Satisfied, unless theres an Inbalanced Cabinet, ran by the people they favor.
Its ironic, these same Low Lifes, were the same People saying they would not Vote for Obama, because of his WIN against Hillary, in the Primary…
The very same people, who said they would not Vote for Obama, when he decided Not to choose Hillary as his Running Mate.
The very Same-Exact People who are now Bitchin and Moaning on this Board today about not having Enough [White Females]
Give me and the Free Thinking World…
A Damn Break…

I know this isn’t a popular idea, but what about Pallin in 2012? I think we saw in this election how the Republican party is split between the far right social conservatives and the more moderate economic conservatives. Pallin caters to that far right group, and that’s the group that votes in large numbers.
Back to Obama’s Cabinet:
Yes it’s hard to tell at this point whether the right decisions were made. But right now it looks like overall this is a solid group of qualified people.
To Cathy about Richardson, although his resume doesn’t cater to the commerce position, he has proved to be solid as an administrator in previous roles (considering that I think he would’ve been a better choice than Hillary for Sos, not to say she isn’t deserving of a high cabinet position). And I think this was more of a concessionary thing to get a highly qualified guy to come back to Washington.
I think’s it’s unfair to judge Obama’s motivation in regards to diversity. Women make up half the population, by that logic should they make up half the cabinet? Sure. But I think here Obama was trying to put together an all-star team, and although there are plenty of qualified females out there for various cabinet positions. They aren’t as numerous and many don’t have the name recognition/clout that some of their white male counterparts have. Is it fair? Probably not, but we can’t blame Obama for the way the system has set up the candidates available to him, and frankly this may not be an A+ cabinet for diversity, but it is evident that he’s at least trying to be inclusive.