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Mr. Clinton's PC Cabinet
| Article
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10791 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1993 |
2,346 Words |
| Author
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Stuart Rothenberg
Stuart Rothenberg, a Washington political analyst, is editor
and publisher of the Rothenberg Political Report. |
For many observers of the 1992 presidential election it was difficult to pigeonhole Democratic nominee Bill Clinton during the campaign. Now that Clinton has put together his cabinet, it is equally difficult to figure out exactly which way the administration is headed: right or left?
The president, of course, would likely respond that he has set out on a new "third way," taking the best of both conservatism and liberalism and emphasizing problem solving. In fact, that is probably the only way to explain the mix of men and women who make up the cabinet and the president's other top advisers.
The overriding question now is whether Clinton's diverse group of advisers can work well enough together to continue the economic recovery begun months ago and to address the nation's underlying problems. In selecting almost two dozen top appointees, Clinton has walked a fine line between experience and freshness, change and continuity, liberalism and conservatism.
The cabinet, including four blacks, three women-another woman, Laura D'Andrea Tyson, chairs the president's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)--and two Hispanics, is more diverse than any other cabinet in American history. It is clear that race and gender were significant considerations in staffing the Clinton cabinet. Tyson, an economist without a big national reputation, likely was chosen because the president needed a top-level woman on his economic team, and news reports early during the transition indicated that Clinton wanted a woman for attorney general. Ultimately, he settled on corporate attorney Zoe Baird, who withdrew during confirmation.
Clinton also has put together a cabinet aimed at satisfying the demands of a broad array of constituencies, within his party and in the country as a whole. Both organized labor and the business community seem satisfied with the Clinton cabinet, as are neo-conservative Democrats and party liberals.
In addition to large numbers of minorities and women, the Clinton cabinet includes three members of the House of Representatives, one senator, two former governors, and two former mayors. Three of the cabinet secretaries can rightly claim to be academics, a handful have former experience in the Carter administration, and two or three are prototype Washington insiders. Some have long ties to Bill or Hillary Clinton, while others met the president only shortly before being tapped for the cabinet. Not surprisingly, most are lawyers.
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