America's new first family is multicultural and diverse, so I'm holding out hope that a Barack Obama cabinet will be a diverse one, too, but not just on ethnicity. I want to see plenty of lipstick and mascara around the first cabinet meeting held by President Obama, too.
When lots of names of men started getting floated as cabinet possibilities in the days immediately after the election, my heart sank and I started to feel a little anxious.
Where were all the women's names? In 2008, surely there could more than a few token mentions.
There are plenty of well-qualified women in our country to fill all the posts that need filling, so why were the first lists coming out filled with so many Y chromosomes? Some immediately pointed to Valerie Jarrett, the first woman to be named to any position in the new administration as Senior Advisor, as a sign of things to come, but she's a longtime Obama friend, mega-fundraiser for him AND co-chair of his transition team. Jarrett may have some wise and valuable advice to offer a President Obama, but naming her as the first female appointee to the White House to me said "promoting friends" more than "promoting women."
It turns out the ladies at Tennessee Guerrilla Women are a little worried, too:
We never expected Obama to keep up with Spain by nominating a majority female cabinet, but we did hope he would keep up with Bill Clinton.Yes, plenty of other names have now surfaced, but many of them have been on the Obama bandwagon for a long time. While people like Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano (a possible candidate for Department of Homeland Security) and Penny Pritzker (a real estate executive who raised money for Obama who was thought to be in the running for Secretary of Commerce, but has denied it) might be qualified, but I'd like to see some other names -- names of those who are qualified and haven't been fundraisers or early-adopters. With the exception of Hillary Clinton's name being floated for Secretary of State, it seems like Obama is leaning heavily to insider confidantes with which to surround himself.
President Clinton set the record for the nation's all time high in the number of women cabinet members and cabinet-level appointees.
With Obama's choices of Tom Daschle for Secretary of Health and Human Services and Eric Holder for Attorney General, it appears that Obama may not even be able to keep up with George W. Bush's 2nd best record. Apparently, when Obama said he wanted change, he was not thinking about us sweeties.
Other women in politics, like Madeleine Kunin, former Governor of Vermont, are a little concerned, too:
Why hasn't there been any Treasury Secretary talk about uber-qualified Sheila Bair, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (which also gets him a GOP pick) or Laura D'Andrea Tyson, who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton? Both are being mentioned for Commerce, but Treasury is higher profile and wields more power and influence. (And we all know it's the women who balance the checkbook at home anyway, right?)There are no more excuses for leaving women out of the inner circles of power. Qualified women are everywhere. Women are ready for leadership; they just need to be identified and asked.
And women must promote themselves. Having worked in the Clinton transition, I can say from first-hand experience that the appointment process, like most things in life, is not based on merit alone. It involves politics in the broadest sense of the word. Those who speak up, those who use their connections are more likely to succeed than those who sit and wait.
I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that President-elect Obama and his transition team think a little more outside the box on women who would be amazing additions to a new cabinet. I'd love to see some names of non-politicos for some slots. What about Elizabeth Edwards for Health and Human Services instead of Tom Daschle? I'm sure you've got some favorites, too.
I've bequeathed one of my old T-shirts to my eight-year-old daughter that features a drawing of the planet with the phrase, Women: We'll Settle for Half. Maybe I should send it on as a little reminder for President-elect Obama?
16 comments:
There hasn't been a single official announcement of any cabinet-level positions. It's one thing to hope for gender parity in Obama's cabinet, but it's another to complain (incessantly) about it before it even happens.
Valerie Jarrett doesn't count as a woman because she's part of his inner circle? Does that really make sense to you?
It seems like you're confused about what you're complaining about -- is it that Obama is bringing in people he trusts and has a history with, or is it that he isn't bringing in enough women?
Maybe it's just that no matter what he does, it's not going to be enough.
Seriously -- let's make this about more than identity politics.
I am hearing the names of incredibly talented women for many posts.
Elizabeth Edwards?! That's a joke, right.
Token appointments involving the wives of disgraced former candidates to appease the sisterhood may make some feel good, but i doubt much more than that would be accomplished.
Me? I just want the right people. The most brutally qualified people. The perfect people. Couldn't care less what gender or race they are.
You had me until you said Elizabeth Edwards. For Obama to appoint her, it would be about the the same as McCain's picking Palin. Any old set of XX chromosomes will do.
I agree with Mr. Lady. Nothing should matter except how qualified they are. We need the best people now, no matter what chromosomes they have.
First, Elizabeth Edwards is WAY qualified. Why rule her out because of her husband. Second, what's wrong with qualified AND diverse? You're saying it's OK if the cabinet is all one color or all on gender? Not in this day and age.
I am neither surprised nor outraged. We are not equal yet. It's that simple.
I was getting worried at first too (too many Old White Men being mentioned). But then things got more diverse. As Mike says, let's give him a chance. And I do think Obama will try to pick excellent people.
I disagree on Elizabeth Edwards. She has enough on her plate. I want someone who can really concentrate on the task at hand and not have to be having cancer treatments, etc. It would be one thing if her cancer were in remission. But sadly it isn't.
I'm also getting concerned about the lack of women being mentioned for cabinet positions.
And just a bit of information to Mauigirl. Metastatic cancer is generally treated as a chronic disease these days. So although Elizabeth's cancer is not in remission it is under "control" so to speak.
I am not holding my breath for many women admitted to the inner circle. For example the focus on women in politics of late were focued on what they wore (Sarah's RNC shopping spree, Michelle's dress, Hillary's pant suits)Did anyone ever hear anything about the suits the men wear?
While there are many qualified candidates of both enders-it is in the end who you know.
President-elect Obama struck another blow for estrogen today when he named Ellen Moran, the executive director of Emily's List, to be his director of communications.
You'll have to let us know whether communications director is inner circle enough, and whether someone who ran Emily's List is double-X chromosome enough.
And then you'll have to let us know why you're still complaining about identity politics when the rest of us are trying to move beyond it.
In case some didn't notice, this was posted before the Communications Dir. announcement.
Aside from that, I think it's clear that ALL politics are identity politics.
I'm sorry to say that I got a weird vibe from Obama during the primaries about his opinion of women. He seems so cool and collected and a bit "too perfect". However, just some of the ways he spoke to Hilary or other women, rubbed me the wrong way. On the surface, it might all seem o.k., but having experience with men in the workplace who are good at pretending to be equalists all the while feeling a bit superior, I just sometimes wonder about people.
It's a bit like meeting someone who's trying too hard to pretend they aren't racist; some are really good at it...almost.
Anyway, I mentioned to my mother a long time ago that I doubted that there would be many women in his administration if he won because of this vibe.
> (Sarah's RNC shopping spree, Michelle's dress, Hillary's pant suits)Did anyone ever hear anything about the suits the men wear?
I have nothing to say about the clothes of the men (they are obviously quite uniform) but I can say, one big thing I didn't like on McCain was, that he was obviously botoxed.
Sarah
My point is exactly that you posted this before the communications positions were announced -- you are jumping the gun with your "estrogen" complaint, not even giving the new administration a chance to start rolling out key positions before accusing Obama of being sexist.
But your statement that all politics are identity politics does explain a lot. How sad for you.
Mike. Strategically it is often wise to raise one's voice while things are still in flux so that it has an impact on the decisions and is not just complaining once they are made.
I do NOT see things precisely the same was that Joanne does because it looks like he's made good choices for each post and because I honestly believe that this guy is looking for a "best person" who is also someone who he can count on. We forget about all the trouble the symbolic search got Clinton into - two AG candidates, for example, whose civil rights attitudes didn't even incline them to pay social security for their own employees! And then one who crossed him all the time and he couldn't fire.
I think in such a crisis time we have to give him his first choices although I hear myself and think how Wilson kept telling the suffragists how unpatriotic it was to push for the vote while the war was on. So maybe I'm wrong.....
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