At least Romney had binders. Binders full of qualified women to fill cabinet positions, that is. Democrats mercilessly pounded Romney for the binders comment he made during the 2012 presidential campaign, but I’ll bet the Obama campaign now wishes Romney had passed the binders on to Obama since it seems he’s having a hard time picking women to fill his second term cabinet positions.
The recently released official White House photo of a predominately pale-faced and testosterone-filled cabinet (which I have no problem with) is enough to cause any misinformed voter into wondering what has become of the so-called party of women.
To be fair, women fill about half the White House staff positions, but the highest- level cabinet positions are currently extremely male and predominantly white. This seems a bit odd, considering the media narrative over the past 50 years has painted Republicans as the party of rich white men. But that’s not the case, if you look at the actual highest-level cabinet positions women were appointed to since Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR).
FDR appointed Frances Perkins as the first female cabinet member in 1933. Democrat presidential successors Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, appointed zero.
Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Oveta Culp Hobby as the first secretary of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare and Republican president Richard M. Nixon, zero.
At that point in history, after four Democrat and two Republican presidents, two female cabinet members were appointed, one per party.
Republican president Gerald Ford appointed Carla Anderson Hills as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and then Democrat president Jimmy Carter appointed Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler as Secretary of Education, Patricia Roberts Harris as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, and Juanita Morris Kreps as Commerce Secretary. The score: Democrats 4 and Republicans 2.
Republican Ronald Reagan appointed Margaret Heckler as HHS Secretary, Ann McLaughlin Korologos as Secretary of Labor, and Elizabeth Dole as Transportation Secretary. Reagan’s successor Republican president George H.W. Bush, appointed Elizabeth Dole as Labor Secretary, Lynn Morley Martin as his second Labor Secretary, and Barbara Hackman Franklin as Secretary of Commerce. Democrats 4 and Republicans: 8.
Democrat president Bill Clinton, who thoroughly enjoyed women in the White House, only appointed five women to his cabinet during both terms. Clinton appointed Hazel Reid O’Leary as Energy Secretary, Alexis Margaret Herman as Labor Secretary, Madeleine Albright as Secretary of State, Janet Reno as Attorney General, and Donna Shalala as HHS Secretary. Democrats: 9.
And then there was George W. Bush, God love him. Bush haters may want to take a deep breath before reading how many women he appointed to his cabinet. Gale Ann Norton was the first female Secretary of the Interior, Condoleezza Rice became the first female African American Secretary of State, Elaine Chao enjoyed two terms as Labor Secretary, Ann Veneman was appointed as US Secretary of Agriculture, Margaret Spellings as Education Secretary, Maria Cino served as acting Transportation Secretary until another female, Mary E. Peters, was nominated to that position. Christine Todd Whitman was appointed as EPA Administrator and, for a total of nine female appointees, Bush appointed Susan Carol Schwab as US Trade Representative in 2006. Republicans: 17.
This takes us to President Obama, who, in his first term appointed to his cabinet six women including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. So far, Obama’s appointed zero new women for his second.
Since FDR, the Democrat Party has governed over 12 presidential terms with seven presidents, who combined, accounted for 15 female nominees as compared to the GOP’s nine terms, six presidents and 17 female nominees. It seems the “Party of Women” is actually the Republican Party, which doesn’t fit the mold cast by Democrats of a party filled with pregnant, barefoot soccer-moms who forgot to pay for their birth control.
Susan Stamper Brown is an opinion page columnist, motivational speaker and military advocate who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Email Susan at writestamper@gmail.com or her website at susanstamperbrown.com. Copywrite 2012 Susan Stamper Brown. Susan’s column is distributed exclusively by: Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate.
Cerulean posted at 9:24 am on Thu, Jan 31, 2013.
The ‘so-called’ party of women put three of the current three women in the Supreme Court; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia, from the Bronx, Sotomayor. The party of women passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Shall I repeat that? The ‘so-called’ party of women passed the Lilly Ledbetter ‘Fair Pay’ Act. The party of women expands Arizona’s delegation with higher representation in Congressional seats
So that means that Obama appointed eight women so far. I, personally, am more proud of the Supreme Court nominations than I would be of ten Trade Representatives.
VofReason posted at 1:12 pm on Thu, Jan 31, 2013.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano should only count as .5. Same with Janet Reno. Thank goodness the American people mostly evidently only care about what you say and not what you do. Let's be honest, despite the highest deficit spending of any president, many people think President Obama is helping the economy.
mnjcpa posted at 2:24 pm on Thu, Jan 31, 2013.
Yeah the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act! Wow what an amazing achievement that has changed the course of history......except I had to read it to actually try to comprehend why it was so meaningful to Cerulean. All it is is another regulation that forces a civil liberties lawyer down a business' throat. It does NOTHING to create a better, improving private sector or better jobs. Kind of like of all the other nonsense Obama focuses on that does nothing to improve the economy.
The women on the Supreme Court? The most radical, throw the constitution out, America hating lawyers that have been appointed in my lifetime.
Why can't you just admit that Stamper Brown is right even if your politics disagree? Do as I say, not as I do........classic Obama.
Cerulean posted at 2:26 pm on Thu, Jan 31, 2013.
VofR, Did you forget that one of the ethics commands of fundamental Judaism is that you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Vof R, it is not ok to lie, even if you have no ethics. Your claim that "despite the highest deficit spending of any president, ...." as it relates to President Obama, is absolutely not true.
mnjcpa posted at 2:38 pm on Thu, Jan 31, 2013.
Cerulean - You're so seriously misinformed about Obama that you really, please need to turn off the television. He is the biggest spending President in American history.
Mike McClellan posted at 4:53 pm on Thu, Jan 31, 2013.
So, Ms. Stamper-Brown, are you suggesting some kind of quota of women in higher White House positions?
Really?
Aren't quotas anathema to conservatives like yourself?
And should women be put in positions just because they're women? Isn't that a bit condescending?
Just wondering.
mnjcpa posted at 5:12 pm on Thu, Jan 31, 2013.
Mike - She's pointing out the hypocrisy of the Obama administration.
samkat posted at 5:50 pm on Thu, Jan 31, 2013.
What ever happened to selecting the best and the brightest? Oh, I forget, political correctness is the rule of the day now.
sockratties posted at 10:17 am on Fri, Feb 1, 2013.
"which doesn’t fit the mold cast by Democrats of a party filled with pregnant, barefoot soccer-moms who forgot to pay for their birth control." Those are SSB's words which jumped right out there as she tried to sneak her real agenda of bias and prejudice in at the end of her commentary.
SSB demonstrates the cynicism so rampant in her ilk. It is difficult to understand why honest, truthful people would be so willing to mislead their minions. Oh, wait! Honest? Truthful? Guess the mold doesn't fit after all.
mnjcpa posted at 4:29 pm on Fri, Feb 1, 2013.
Hey sock - Even if I don't agree with someone's politics I can look at an article and call it whether it's true or not. You're no different than she is if you refer people that differ from your opinion as one of her `ilk`. Obama's a hypocrite. He latched on and made sure his media bullies harped on the faux `war on women`, when his actions speak differently. How can you argue with that?
Bluepoet posted at 8:25 am on Sat, Feb 2, 2013.
The author did nothing except list women in government, attribute them to political parties, point out a photo (a very popular one, on FOX, btw), and avow that Obama is somehow both a hypocrite and a racist, by virtue of history, and present day hirings. She does not mention here beloved Republican party blocking a woman's cabinet nomination, even before her being nominated.
And to top it off, she proudly pointed to Romney's inept attempt to acknowledge women as anything more than a list of names in a book.
Masterful hatchet job, but devoid of any real point, on the merits of the argument.
mnjcpa posted at 8:41 am on Sat, Feb 2, 2013.
She's pointing out the hypocrisy blue When you're so blind that you can't see, as evidenced by your insults, you'll never be swayed from what the Obama propaganda machine has convinced you of. The article is dripping with a real point - you just can't see it.
sockratties posted at 12:25 pm on Sat, Feb 2, 2013.
mnjcpa
are you a minion or an ilk?
SSB described some correlations, drew conclusions by innuendo then used them as faux data to derive non-existant "facts." And blue is blind? How does that hook in your cheek feel?
mnjcpa posted at 1:44 pm on Sat, Feb 2, 2013.
sock
So?
That's as weak a debate as Piers Morgan crushed on the gun control debate from Ben Shapiro of Breitbart.
downtownresident posted at 7:36 pm on Sat, Feb 2, 2013.
Susan Stamper Brown,
You are delusional.[sad]
Bluepoet posted at 10:11 am on Tue, Feb 5, 2013.
I am blind? So tell me, when you list someone who was appointed by a President, are they then, de facto, from the same party as that President? I think one would find that Presidents hire cabinet members, more based on their quals than whether or not they are of a certain political bent--or a certain sex. Yes, even Obama.
I'm not blind, but I do wear dark glasses, because the glare of Ms Stamper Brown's insipidness hurts my eyes, which are very blue and very keen.
I would submit, sir, that you are the one casting about with a cane, labeling my political philosophy as being that of Obama's. As I've stated more than a few times, here, I reject both of the major parties' ideologies, as being two faces of the same coin of manipulative exploitation.
I just know a hatchet job, when I see one...
mnjcpa posted at 8:47 am on Wed, Feb 6, 2013.
Blue - you and I share the same political philosophy. Apologies, because I must have misunderstood your comments. Anyone that thinks this is a Democrat/Republican/Tea Party issue has MISSED the point.
I find the radical left just as bad that sets themselves up as a one-party moral code. If one were to do the opposite of everything they advocate, one would be almost always right.
chuckles3 posted at 2:23 pm on Wed, Feb 6, 2013.
Simple facts folks. More Women have been on Republican Cabinets than Democratic ones.
Obama currently has zero. If anyone believes he is interested in hiring the best person for the job you have not seen his supreme court nominees or Big Sis Napolitano perform.