By GottaLaff
This is what happens when you're the Decider:
Obama is taking the big-tent approach to governing and wanted a Cabinet that stretches the tent wide. [...]It might be diverse, but not everyone is happy. Some women's groups are disappointed. Among Obama's strongest backers during the election, they now say they don't have enough seats at the table.
That's because of Obama's 20 announced Cabinet-level posts, five went to women: Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary, Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Rep. Hilda Solis as labor secretary, Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador and Lisa Jackson as Environmental Protection Agency chief. [...]Amy Siskind, co-founder of the nonpartisan group New Agenda, accuses Obama of taking "shocking steps backward" and said "this constituency does not matter to the president-elect."
Obama has said he's picking people for their skills and not pandering to special interests.
The polls show that 3/4 of Americans think he's getting it right. Bill Clinton and President [sic] Bush each had a comparable number of women in their first Cabinets.
But it's not just women who are angry with Obama's choices. Other factions in the Democratic Party are, too.
Many gay and lesbian supporters are irate over Obama choosing Pastor Rick Warren to lead the invocation at the historic January 20 inauguration. [...]
Some progressives, meanwhile, are also disappointed that Obama has tapped moderates for key positions. [...]
Obama's team privately says wait and see. They feel it's too early to criticize his choices before they've even had a chance to be sworn in.
Today a local progressive talk show host agreed with Thom Hartmann (as noted in my post about Rev. Rick Warren): If liberal Dems aren't inclusive, then they're no better than the very people they've been at odds with over the past eight years. The GOP would have nothing to do with progressives, he went on to say, and asked why we should we become the lefty version of a group like that.
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