On President Obama’s “Diversity Problem…”

Does Obama have a diversity problem?

Recently, much has been written about President Obama’s “lack of gender diversity” within his cabinet.

I disagree with those who think that the president is not sincere in his effort to bring women to the forefront in major cabinet positions and judicial appointments. Have we forgotten his two Supreme Court nominees Sonia Sotomayor and Solicitor General Elena Kagan who were successfully appointed in the president’s first term.

One would be hard-pressed to find a contradiction in the premise that President Obama has made a concerted effort to include women in all facets of his appointments.

The Huffington Post notes:

Though the optics of the gender equality issue are awkward for the president, CNN notes that Obama’s overall record of diversity isn’t as weak as it appears in the latest round of nominations.

Roughly 36% of Obama’s Cabinet are women compared to 19% for Bush in his first term, according to the Women and Politics Center at Rutgers.While Obama’s record on diversity is also better than the much-discussed 20% female representation in the Senate, he would have to appoint more women to match Bill Clinton’s record. Women represented 41% of his Cabinet in his second term.

The White House itself employs almost even amounts of men and women.

While Obama is now under pressure to find women — perhaps “binders full” of them— to fill the next wave of open positions, the administration is defending itself against mounting criticism.

“This president is committed to diversity,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday. “Look at the record. It is a vast improvement” from previous administrations.

Carney continued, saying that it “would be useful to wait and make judgments about this issue after the president has made the totality of appointments that he will make in the transition to a second term.”

Salon touts an article that claims the Obama White House is:

…Still White and Overwhelmingly Male.

The stale sameness of the president’s second-term Cabinet picks belies the administration’s rhetoric on diversity

President Obama has demonstrated his bona fides about his choices of cabinet members and White House staff. I see the entire brouhaha as a concerted effort by right-wing operatives to divert their very real issues to diversify with regard to LGBT, women and minorities.

The president’s “diversity problem” is non-existent. It is merely a well-played out diversionary tactic by the GOP to disseminate half-truths, lies, innuendos and draw attention away from their own misogynistic tendencies.

The real “diversity problem” lies within the GOP, not the president’s White House.

Sheila Bryant (aka Kstreet607)