President Barack Obama’s Cabinet diversity- Only one African American

President Barack Obama’s Cabinet diversity in danger with new picks

By Emily Heil
The Washington Post

The White House is poised this week to announce a handful of Cabinet nominees, most of whom have a few things in common: they all seem like perfectly qualified, distinguished folks. . . and they’re all white men.
President Obama’s picks, including Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) for secretary of state, former senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) for secretary of defense and John Brennan for CIA director, mean that the number of positions that could be filled by women or minorities is dwindling. That’s causing some concern among those who’d hoped to see diversity in the cabinet remain at its historic levels or even increase.

“It’s evident that he’s going to have a less diverse cabinet this term, possibly even less diverse than the George W. Bush cabinet,” says NYU professor Paul Light, who studies political appointments .

Of course, there’s still time for the picture to change. There’s only been one official nomination and the game of second-term musical chairs is barely underway.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/post/obamas-cabinet-diversity-in-danger-with-new-picks/2013/01/07/15b8a3ce-58dd-11e2-beee-6e38f5215402_blog.html

Obama Cabinet may not meet his own diversity standards
With Susan Rice out of the running for secretary of State, all of the president’s second-term appointees to date have been white males. Just wait, his spokesman says.

By Christi Parsons and Michael A. Memoli, Washington Bureau
The Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — Wednesday’s “photo of the day” on the White House website showed an unusual sight in Oval Office history — the president surrounded by top advisors, only half of whom are white men.

The picture seemed calculated to counter criticism that President Obama’s new set of Cabinet appointees so far all are white and male. Obama is expected to name his chief of staff, Jacob Lew, to lead the Treasury Department. Further compounding the diversity problem, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to leave the administration soon, and Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announced Wednesday that she was resigning.

“This president is committed to diversity,” said Jay Carney, Obama’s press secretary. “Look at the record. It is a vast improvement” from previous administrations.

Still, Obama’s first round of appointments has been striking in its homogeneity. This week he nominated former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel to serve as secretary of Defense and anti-terrorism advisor John Brennan to lead the CIA. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) is slated to succeed Clinton at the State Department.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-administration-20130110,0,4200106.story

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The Cabinet

Click image to enlarge

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden pose with the full Cabinet for an official group photo in the Grand Foyer of the White House, July 26, 2012.

The White House

The Cabinet is an advisory body made up of the heads of the 15 executive departments. Appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the members of the Cabinet are often the President’s closest confidants. In addition to running major federal agencies, they play an important role in the Presidential line of succession — after the Vice President, Speaker of the House, and Senate President pro tempore, the line of succession continues with the Cabinet offices in the order in which the departments were created. All the members of the Cabinet take the title Secretary, excepting the head of the Justice Department, who is styled Attorney General.

The tradition of the Cabinet dates back to the beginnings of the Presidency itself. Established in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, the Cabinet’s role is to advise the President on any subject he may require relating to the duties of each member’s respective office.

The Cabinet includes:
Vice President and the heads of 15 executive department Secretaries
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Defense
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Homeland Security
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of State
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Treasury
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Attorney General

The following positions have the status of Cabinet-rank
White House Chief of Staff
Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Management & Budget
United States Trade Representative
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Council of Economic Advisers
Small Business Administration
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United States presidential line of succession
Vice President of the United States
Speaker of the House
President pro tempore of the Senate
Secretary of State
Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of Defense
Attorney General
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security

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*Eric Holder served as acting Attorney General for George W. Bush after President Bill Clinton left office Holder would hold this position from January 20, 2001 to February 2, 2001. John Ashcroft took office and thanked Holder, who was previously Bill Clinton’s Deputy Attorney General , on his last day at the Justice Department.
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Video: Charlie Rangel- Obama record apointing women, minorities “Embarrassing as hell”

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Video: Young Barack Obama protesting at Harvard University in 1991 on diversity

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Video: Interview of Robert C. Weaver, the first US Secretary for Housing and Urban Development
the first African American to hold a cabinet-level position in the United States

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