A Cabinet that Looks Like America?

This weekend, President-elect Barack Obama announced a number of White House appointments. Mona Sutphen will be deputy chief of staff and Valerie Jarrett will serve as a senior adviser and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison.

Jarrett will be Obama’s eyes and ears to constituent groups, which is the role that Alexis Herman played during Bill Clinton’s first term.

Yesterday on ABC News’ “This Week,” Sam Donaldson said Obama’s personnel picks lacked diversity. With the exception of Jarrett and Sutphen, the new bosses look a lot like the old bosses. 

Donaldson wondered whether Obama will assemble a Cabinet that “looks like America.”

Cokie Roberts said she expected Obama’s appointments will be as diverse as Clinton’s.

During his two terms, Clinton appointed seven black Cabinet members. BTW, President Bush, who garnered less than 10 percent black support, appointed four blacks to his Cabinet.

According to a preliminary analysis by Dr. David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, blacks represent nearly 24 percent of Obama’s vote total. And black women account for 60 percent of the black vote.

Let’s be clear: Diversity is not about mindless bean counting. It’s about influencing public policy and having presidential appointees in departments and agencies who get what's happening to African American families, homeowners, small businesses and communities.

But while black folks are glorying in the President-Elect, women and Latinos are making demands. NOW President Kim Gandy told Politico:

The transition team is going to take the time to look at and vet the people they don’t know. Because frankly, the people who are already well-known in Washington tend to be men and tend to be white.

And 2000 community organizers will gather in DC to press Obama to deliver on his promise to meet with them during the transition to help “shape the agenda.”