Demanding that Obama appoint a member of group "x" is just Washington politics as usual.

[Renegade08]

I just figured it out. When some group or interest demand that justice or fairness or whatever requires that Obama appoint a gay, black, latino, or female person to the cabinet, they are engaging in the time honored Washington tradition of LOBBYING.

It's the same thing that Rick Davis does. Except Davis gets paid buttloads of money for what he does, while liberal bloggers do not. Sure, Davis lobbies on behalf of Fannie Mae while liberal bloggers/activists lobby on behalf of a particular identity-based group or a pet policy-project. But, in both cases, it is still lobbying.

Does this mean I'm arguing that we shouldn't advocate for inclusiveness and progressive policies? Of course not. But, instead of lobbying for your group's narrow self-interests, how about broadening the scope of your advocacy? For example, NOW could have argued for an inclusive cabinet in general, instead of complaining just about the lack of women on Obama's economic advisory team. They'd have a lot more credibility if they also advocated for inclusion of blacks, Latinos, and Asians along-side with advocating for women.

But, you may argue, if NOW did that, that wouldn't make them the National Organization of WOMEN anymore. And that's exactly my point. It wouldn't make NOW just about the "W" part of NOW. It'd make NOW into a broader organization supporting integration and diversity, with a focus on gender inclusion. And I'd argue that that would be a good thing - you know, fostering coalition building and all that. And, it would make NOW less of another political lobbying group, and more of a progressive organization that pursues policies that fit inclusive principles of feminism and equality.

To be fair, groups like NOW do in fact go beyond their narrow base in their advocacy. For example, the NAACP came out in opposition to Prop 8, along with other minority advocacy groups. There just needs to be more of it, both in the political sphere and here in the blogosphere.

Now that's change we can believe in.

[glowing]

1. Petitioning your govt for your needs is democracy.. they represent us.

Seeing a fair reflection of the times would be nice. It would be nice to see 1/2 of all the administration in top spots to be women, since they are half the country that works alongside their male counterparts. BUT not all women are in these power positions. In the future, let's hope there is more access and push to excel everyone to do the best and to be the best... Now, economically speaking, most women just aren't into being assholes.. most "economic" gurus are assholes. They think of numbers and making money at the top... they aren't so much into spreading wealth. As far as I knew, economics wasn't geared for most of America.. Which is a major problem in "fixing" the problem now.