Obama's Good Ol' Boys Club
Back in January, Newark Mayor Cory Booker appeared on NBC's Meet The Press. He was asked about the nominations of Chuck Hagel and John Kerry to the Cabinet and criticism about the lack of women in the Obama inner circle. Mr. Booker responded that half the White House staff were women and that the president still had a lot of appointments to make for his second term.
Today, President Obama filled one of the last high-level vacancies with the nomination of Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx as Secretary of Transportation. As near as I can tell, Mr. Foxx's transportation experience consists of a few high-profile local transit projects in Charlotte, which have been bogged down in red tape. He has absolutely no experience managing infrastructure at the national level and almost no experience in the federal government.
Now I'm sure there are plenty of women with far more impressive transportation resumes than this -- for example, women working on transportation issues in big companies or national organizations. The president could also have looked at top level administrators within the Transportation Department or other government departments. But none of those women got the nomination.
As far as Mayor Booker's comment about half of the White House staff being women, it was unclear whether housekeepers and maids were included in this figure. In any case, it seems that the Obama Administration's standard response to criticism that there aren't many women making the decisions is that there are plenty of women doing the work.
Today, President Obama filled one of the last high-level vacancies with the nomination of Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx as Secretary of Transportation. As near as I can tell, Mr. Foxx's transportation experience consists of a few high-profile local transit projects in Charlotte, which have been bogged down in red tape. He has absolutely no experience managing infrastructure at the national level and almost no experience in the federal government.
Now I'm sure there are plenty of women with far more impressive transportation resumes than this -- for example, women working on transportation issues in big companies or national organizations. The president could also have looked at top level administrators within the Transportation Department or other government departments. But none of those women got the nomination.
As far as Mayor Booker's comment about half of the White House staff being women, it was unclear whether housekeepers and maids were included in this figure. In any case, it seems that the Obama Administration's standard response to criticism that there aren't many women making the decisions is that there are plenty of women doing the work.