Wednesday, May 8, 2013

As the Cabinet Turns!

It's time to Break It Down!

During the 2012 Election cycle, there was rampant on-going speculation about President Obama’s ability to hold on to the robust numbers generated by his incredible, never-before seen, 2008 coalition.  The Obama Re-election Team was always confident in the ability of it’s Get Out the Vote (GOTV) machinery to connect with key demographics and persuade those voters to go to the polls and execute their civic duty.  Whether they could do so was considered critical to Mr. Obama’s chances to win, and many Republican prognosticators openly doubted the chances that what they considered a “perfect political storm” could be replicated.

As it turned out, President Obama did return to office, propelled by a coalition that performed even more stoutly than it had the first time around.  In the aftermath of Election 2012, the President’s critics and detractors grudgingly conceded they simply misjudged and/or underestimated Team Obama’s capacity to re-energize and motivate the many disparate parts of the President’s base.

The 2012 Campaign was marked by a revolving array of numbers.  The most important was two, of course, as in two terms for the incumbent President.  But there were many others, including:

So straight off his victory, the President was confronted by a wide-ranging expression of concern about the lack of diversity in his new Cabinet.  Friend and foe alike have called into question the make-up of the President's Second Term Cabinet.  Republicans, in the wake of the oft-mentioned “War on Women” Democrats attributed to their Party, called out President Obama for his lack of female appointees.

That the Grand Old Party, home of the loyal opposition (to Democratic Administrations)would challenge the President on his record of appointments, or anything else is not news, naturally.  However, it does raise eyebrows when representatives of several of the President’s most ardent ally groups challenge his record of Cabinet appointments.  That is precisely what has happened during the early months of 2013, as President Obama revealed nominees for appointment to Cabinet posts.

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC - the nation’sleading LGBT organization), the NAACP, the National Organization of Women, and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda have all challenged, criticized, and/or complained about the President’s Cabinet.  Now that there is only one Cabinet Post remaining to be filled, the Small Business Administration, (SBA), it is virtually assured the new Cabinet will be less diverse; whiter and more male-dominated than his first.

As diversity goes, there will likely be more white men (up from 8 to 10), fewer women (down from 8 to 7), fewer blacks (down from 4 to 3), fewer Asians, (down from 3 to 1), and fewer Latinos, down from 2 to 0 at present).  However, the President does seem to be leveling a concerted effort to fill the SBA post with a Hispanic.

President Obama insists that his first White House and Cabinet staff was as diverse a team, if not more diverse, than any in history.  In January, he urged critics to avoid rushing to judgment; to wait and see how the appointment process unfolded.  Now that the process has nearly played out, we can see there will be no panacea for proponents of diversity.

It is time for a new argument, posthaste!  The new argument, and there is one which holds merit, is that it is actually appropriate to recognize that the President has chosen a Cabinet that reflects his principles and policy beliefs.  These core values were validated by a coalition supported by the gaggle of numbers and percentages referenced earlier.  I know it is an about-face from the often splintering identity politics to which we have become accustomed.  Consider it a case of, “As the Cabinet Turns!”

I’m done; holla back!

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For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2013/05/02/6dd62e50-b36e-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_story.html

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2013/05/03/immigration-cabinet-diversity-discussed-in-strategy-session-between-obama-and/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-jencunas/obama-cabinet-diversity_b_3221014.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/mike-huckabee-obama-cabinet_n_2443695.html

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/progressive-movement/news/2012/11/08/44348/the-return-of-the-obama-coalition/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/05/04/obama-criticized-for-lack-of-lgbt-diversity-in-cabinet/

http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/03/24/congressional-black-caucus-chair-criticizes-obamas-lack-of-cabinet-diversity/

http://thegrio.com/2013/01/24/naacps-ben-jealous-criticizes-obamas-lack-of-cabinet-diversity/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney
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