"Frankly, I respect the counsel of white men"

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Obama deflects criticism about lack of diversity

WASHINGTON — Deflecting criticism about a perceived lack of diversity in his second-term Cabinet, President Barack Obama on Monday urged Americans not to rush to judgment about who he will appoint to replace departing members of his team.

In a declaration tinged with the rhetoric of his re-election campaign, Obama asserted: "We're not going backwards, we're going forward."

Scrutiny has been mounting over the number of women and minorities that will surround the nation's first black president in his second term. Cabinet members who are departing at the end of his first term — including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — are being replaced largely by white males.

"It's as embarrassing as hell," Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., one of the longest-serving African-American members of Congress, said last week.

Obama nominated Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry to replace Clinton at the State Department after U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who is black, asked for her name to be removed from consideration.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who is Hispanic, stepped down last week, adding to a list of departures that includes EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who is black. Obama has not yet announced who he will nominate to fill those roles. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is staying for Obama's second term.

The president has announced his picks to fill two other top jobs, nominating former Sen. Chuck Hagel to run the Defense Department and Obama's chief of staff, Jack Lew, to serve as treasury secretary. The two leading candidates to replace Lew at the White House are both male.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Holder, who is black, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who is of Japanese-American descent, will stay on, a White House official said last week. A spokesman for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday that he too will keep his job in Obama's second term.

An Education Department official also said Secretary Arne Duncan would remain in President Barack Obama's Cabinet into a second term. That official disclosed the decision on the condition of anonymity because a public announcement had not been made.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20130114/US.Obama.Diversity/

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Having all those whiteys in the white house is embarrassing so says Rangel..

Glad he fights racism for us.. corruption also.