Obama’s white-guy problem now front and center

The Cabinet shuffle within the Obama administration has boxed in the president, presenting legitimate criticism that he is failing to provide the diversity on his “team” that he had promised.

As Jill Lawrence at National Journal put it: “Who would have thought the nation's first black president would have an optics problem?”

Lawrence notes that Obama’s numbers are fairly good at lower-level positions, with many females holding executive positions. But media attention on the diversity issue is growing. 

The New York Times published a front page photo on Wednesday (above) showing an all-male group of aides meeting with the president. The White House responded with a photo (below) of a much more diverse group, also meeting with the president in the Oval Office, and tweeted it widely to the media.

Of the four women Obama to his Cabinet, he’s losing half of them so far: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis (who is also Hispanic). He still has Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security and Kathleen Sebelius at Health and Human Services. His administration still includes U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice (who is also black), but her very high-profile failure to line up for the State Department job also works against the president.

Meanwhile, Obama has nominated Sen. John Kerry to go to State, former Sen. Chuck Hagel to be Defense secretary, counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to head the CIA, and later today he will announce his choice of White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew as his next Treasury secretary. All white guys.

Three women in the running for top jobs, according to the National Journal, have been passed over:

“Foremost is Rice, reportedly Obama’s top choice to succeed Clinton, but unable to convince key Republicans she did not mislead the public on the murders of U.S. personnel in Benghazi. Former Deputy Defense Secretary Michele Flournoy was a top candidate for the Pentagon job, but Obama chose Hagel. Lael Brainard, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, much talked about in some circles to succeed outgoing Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, is losing out to Lew.”