Ah want mah damn pieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!
Posted on 11/11/2008 5:50:49 PM PST by Jean S
Identity politics in the Democratic Party are already presenting challenges to President-elect Barack Obama, who is under pressure to appoint Hispanics and African-Americans to key posts in his administration.
Both groups were crucial to Obama’s victory last week over Republican John McCain. Ninety-six percent of African-American voters cast ballots for Obama, while 67 percent of Hispanic voters.
Both are now counting on Obama to appoint Hispanic and African-American politicians to his Cabinet as a way of rewarding their support.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Hispanic who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination but later endorsed Obama, should be secretary of State, a coalition of 35 Hispanic groups said in a Nov. 11 letter to the president-elect obtained by The Hill.
“Richardson is not only a leader in the Latino community in this country but he has also become a well-respected international figure widely known for his strong commitment to international diplomacy, promoting democracy and protecting civil and human rights,” said the letter from the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), which includes The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the National Council of La Raza. Richardson could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
The letter did not allude directly to the role Hispanic voters played in helping Obama win states such as Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, all of which went to President Bush four years ago. But it did congratulate Obama on his “historic and decisive victory” in the election.
Hilary Shelton, the director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau, has called on Obama to appoint a Cabinet with more diversity than the Cabinets of Presidents Bush and Clinton. Shelton has also called for an African-American to fill Obama’s Senate seat, a decision over which the incoming president is expected to have much influence.
“It is our hope that Barack Obama chooses a Cabinet that is reflective of the diversity of the country, with African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans,” said Shelton.
Shelton noted that Bush and Clinton tapped African-Americans and Hispanics to fill their Cabinets and said he “absolutely” would like to see Obama exceed their examples.
“We do think racial diversity is tremendously important,” he said.
Shelton also urged that an African-American be selected to take Obama’s Senate seat.
“We strongly believe the Senate should be much more integrated,” said Shelton. Obama is the only African-American member of the Senate, and only the third since Reconstruction.
“Gov. [Rod] Blagojevich [D] should choose someone who is consistent with the will of the people who elected Obama, someone who represents the values and priorities that Obama ran on when he was elected to the U.S. Senate,” Shelton said.
While Blagojevich will make the two-year temporary appointment, Illinois political insiders say that Obama will have significant influence over the decision.
Two members of the Congressional Black Caucus are vying for the seat: Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) and Danny Davis (D-Ill.).
Obama is expected to assemble a racially diverse Cabinet. One Democratic insider told The Hill that Obama, aware of the importance of the country’s fastest-growing group, is looking to surpass the bar set by Clinton, who appointed two Hispanics to his Cabinet at the beginning of his administration.
Clinton appointed seven African-Americans, including Ronald Brown as secretary of Commerce, Rodney Slater as secretary of Transportation, and Togo West as secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Bush appointed four African-Americans, three Hispanics and two Asian-Americans to his Cabinet. African-Americans who served under Bush include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Secretary of Education Roderick Paige.
But the need to appoint Hispanics and African-Americans to top posts could cause other headaches.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), an early Obama supporter, is widely seen as a possible pick as secretary of State. If Richardson gets the nod instead, it would bump the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee.
As the first black president, Obama will be under pressure to appoint African-Americans. But he may be under even more pressure to appoint Hispanics, whose support could prove critical to Democrats’ retaining power in Washington.
Democrats see an opportunity to seize and hold onto Hispanics after Republican efforts to do the same under President Bush were devastated by an inflammatory debate over immigration that was viewed by many Hispanics as racist in tone.
When Clinton first took office, he appointed two Hispanic Cabinet members — Secretary of Transportation Frederico Pena and Housing and Urban Development Director Henry Cisneros — and one Democratic insider said Obama is looking to best that number with his first appointments.
Pena, who also served as Clinton’s secretary of Energy before Richardson took the job, is being mentioned as a possible national co-chairman of Obama’s campaign.
Talk about Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) becoming secretary of the Department of the Interior is so loud in Colorado political circles that some in the state are already discussing who might take his Senate seat.
Guillermo Meneses, a Democratic strategist who advised Richardson’s presidential run, said Hispanics are “certainly going to have an important role in the Cabinet,” given the way they supported Obama.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” he said.
Mike Soraghan contributed to this article.
It's only fair.
Be damned what is best, after all what is best has been proved to be damned already.
Let us just be fair........
FREEDOM rules doesn't it? /s
Goodbye Mr Smith.........
So far, he has only appointed or considered RICH, WHITE, PEEEEEPLE!
Yo, yo, yo ... Don’t be ‘Pressin’!
This thing is turning into a free-for-all of demands based on ethnics rather than ethics, as we all knew it would.
Beware Obama Nation, beware of what you asked for, because you just might get it ....
Pray for America,
MM
Didn’t 70-some-odd percent of Jews vote for him? I think they need a couple of cabinet posts and a senior advisorship. That’ll screw him up good with all the anti-Semites in this curious coalition of blind men encountering an elephant.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k6KUDv1wzraWhwlBt1
78% of Jews voted for a guy who spent 20 years in the pews of a Jew-Hater, go figure.
Too many don't pray, they just expect and demand.
I can’t believe it. I don’t have to worry about my mortgage or gas anymore.
This whole thing is getting way out of control! The lunatics are REALLY running the asylum!!!
I can’t wait for the food riots.
“So far, he has only appointed or considered RICH, WHITE, PEEEEEPLE!”
Yeah, the same old stale saltines from the Clinton years!
ping
The pressure is on now, Bambi. No Messiah-like presence, no reelecty.
Someone once said this about Barry Goldwater: “I always knew that the first Jewish president would be an Episcopalian.”
We may be able to say this at some point: “I always knew that the first Hispanic president would be named Richardson.” In other words, he has a totally “Anglo” name. He is only half Hispanic just as Barack is only half black.
I guess I can't feel sorry for the Jews anymore. Bombs away Taliban.
Huh. I always thought race didn’t matter.
I guess to some blacks and Latinos, race DOES matter. And not only does it matter, it is paramount.
when you gonna fill my tank an pay ma mortgage
...Quota...
Pie riots.....
Since homos are such a crucial part of the brotherhood of oppressed ethnic minorities, shouldn’t he appoint lots of them as well?
Blasphemy!
Barack IS our first black POTUS!
We need this and must have it!
None of this "wishy washy" half and half crap!
He IS the ONE....
~snort
Herman asked the caller, what is wrong with Powell and Rice? The caller said that they don't look after THEIR PEOPLE.
Herman asked the caller, do you want to have a Black Secretary of State instead of a SecState for all of America? The caller diverted into a rant against Clarence Thomas. Clearly, he wants black people appointed who will only look out for the interests of black people.
No doubt the hispanic lobby wants hispanic people appointed who will only look out for the interests of THEIR PEOPLE.
Obama will likely take more heat from black and hispanic extremists in the near future than from the right. And he will take heat from envirowackos and communists. All of them think that it's anarchy time in the great satan, and Barack is their magic key. Hey Barack, we sent you all that money, now you have to smack down the Man and make him beg.
This should be interesting. A very dangerous time for Liberty, but interesting. Obama has written numerous checks that he can't cash, not without alienating the other mistresses.
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when at first we practice to deceive.
One can only hope this degrades into full out squabbles over racial spoils and Americans wake up to see what the heir of Franklin Marshall Davis will do to America.
“Richardson could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.”
LOL.....He probably wrote the letter.
Kerry and Richardson vying for the Sec of State position, now if that isn’t the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard. Obama’s cabinet is going to look like a carnival...how dignified. LOL
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