Cabinet Diversity

Save one New Mexico governor (edited to add: and one former South Dakota Senator), it appears all of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet selections will be confirmed. The Cabinet is more racially diverse than the United States as a whole and far more diverse than the Senate that confirms it, but by some measures not as racially diverse as past Cabinets.

At least two advantages have led recent Presidents to consider demographics in the appointments. First, having a representative in the Cabinet helps a constituency to feel included in the government and in the nation. Second, a diversity of individuals might give rise to a diversity of ideas, something valuable to large organizations solving new problems.

For the latter purpose, I think educational backgrounds and work experiences are the most relevant forms of diversity. In a government full of JDs, among the Cabinet nominees are recipients of masters’ degrees in East Asian studies and international economics, English, architecture, and public administration. Two nominees have (non-jurisprudence) doctoral degrees: Robert Gates in Russian history and Stephen Chu in physics. Three nominees finished with BAs. The nominees’ work experiences are varied, and sometimes quixotic. Timothy Geithner has worked at the Treasury Department, the IMF, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Arne Duncan played professional basketball in Australia before becoming the head of the Chicago Public Schools. Eric Shinseki was a general in the Army and Steven Chu a researcher at Bell Labs and Stanford. (Gen. Shinseki has a Purple Heart, Dr. Chu a Nobel Prize.) Ken Salazar has a law degree from Michigan, but also owned a Dairy Queen and a ranch. Senators and governors are overrepresented, but other nominees are new to government.

The Cabinet lacks a Southerner, a MBA recipient, a naturalized citizen, a Native American, a male librarian, a Libertarian, and proponents of countless perspectives. Still, if this pattern of real diversity extends into sub-Cabinet positions, the federal government could become an innovative and interesting workplace.