Desiree Rogers Talks About Her Job As White House Social Secretary

Hat tip: This Week With Barack Obama

From NPR:

White House Social Secretary Reflects On Role
All Things Considered, January 29, 2009

At the White House Thursday, President Barack Obama held a signing ceremony for a new law aimed at halting age, race or gender discrimination in the workplace. The signing was followed by a reception hosted by the first lady.

Invited lawmakers and dignitaries munched on fruit and pastries. Somewhere in the background, a tall woman was making sure everything was just so in the state dining room — from the yellow orchids on the tables to the apricot coffee cake.

Her name is Desiree Rogers and she is the new White House social secretary, responsible for planning events from state dinners to the annual Easter egg roll.

Rogers comes to the White House armed with a Harvard MBA, a long resume in the corporate world and a keen knowledge of the first family's tastes as a longtime member of their Chicago inner circle.

"One of the things that is very important to the president and the first lady is that the art be reflective of all Americans," Rogers says. "And so one of the things that's already being looked at is the possibility of how can we diversify the art collection."

The Obamas plan to include in their White House decorations art, furniture and rugs created by every ethnicity and race, she says, in an effort to "be really reflective of America."

To listen to the entire interview, GO HERE

There's a moment, when Norris and Rogers talk about the Black White House staff...I dare you not to choke up.

Will Diversity Be An Issue in Obama's Administration?

This is from the Christian Progressive Liberal over at Jack and Jill Politics:

Will Obama's Administration look like this?

Before you shoot the messenger on this, please hear me out. So far in the named nominees for Mr. Obama's Cabinet, we have one Latino (Bill Richardson for Commerce Secretary) and an African-American for Attorney General (Eric Holder).

We already know that he's named a couple of African-Americans to insider posts on his personal staff (Valerie Jarrett and one other who's name escapes me). Robert Gibbs is on tap as Press Secretary.

We also know he's going with Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, Tom Daschle for HHS Secretary, and Tim Geithner for Treasury Secretary. And Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is tapped for Homeland Security.

We have yet to see an Asian named for any post in the Obama Administration. One of our regular posters, dcgtn, made this salient point in replying to one of my comments:

"But it will be another matter if Mr. Obama sends the message he can't find any of US who's qualified for the Cabinet."

This is what I'm saying. If you go by his picks so far, the message is that only white people are qualified to run the government and that's crazy. The cabinet is the face of the president's administration and the fact that the face of our Black president's administration is white, so far, is disturbing to say the least.

I've stated in one post that Mr. Obama has to walk a fine line regarding his Cabinet picks - too much diversity earns him a bigoted label from the reich wing. Lack of Diversity brings the protests from those of us who wore out shoe-leather, gave up time, money and energy, and believed that he was campaigning for true change in American Government. But we must also remember that none of the nominees are a done deal - they still have to get through a Senate Confirmation, and let's not be fooled - just because there's a Democratic Majority in the Senate, there is still Traitor Joe Lieberman who lurks in the Senate and was welcomed back into the fold, despite his treachery and openly campaigning for the Republican candidate against Mr. Obama.

So, how does President-Elect Obama handle this? First off, please stop acting like you can't find any qualified people of color within a 100 mile radius of Washington, DC, because the recruitment pool is full of qualified people of color/ethnicity that can pass background checks and work in the Administration.

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Yearly Kos Convention - A Sea Of White Males

Washington Post writer, Jose Antonio Vargas, highlights a lack of diversity at the Yearly Kos bloggers Convention.

A Diversity of Opinion, if Not Opinionators

At the Yearly Kos Bloggers' Convention, a Sea of Middle-Aged White Males

By Jose Antonio Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer

CHICAGO-- It's Sunday, day 4 of Yearly Kos, the major conference for progressive bloggers, and Gina Cooper, the confab's organizer-in-chief, surveys the ballroom of the massive McCormick Place Convention Center. A few hundred remaining conventioneers are having brunch, dining on eggs, bagels and sausage.

Seven of the eight Democratic presidential candidates have paid their respects this weekend, and some 200 members of the credentialed press have filed their stories. A mere curiosity just two years ago, the progressive blogosphere has gone mainstream. But Cooper sees a problem.

"It's mostly white. More male than female," says the former high school math and science teacher turned activist. "It's not very diverse."

There goes the open secret of the netroots, or those who make up the community of the Internet grass-roots movement.

For all the talk about the increasing influence of this growing group -- "We are a community . . . a movement . . . an institution," Cooper said in a speech Saturday night -- what gets scant attention is its demography. While the Huffington Post and Fire Dog Lake, both founded by women, are two of the most widely read blogs, the rock stars are mostly men, and many women bloggers complain of sexism and harassment in the blogosphere.

Walking around McCormick Place during the weekend, it became clear that only a handful of the 1,500 conventioneers -- bloggers, policy experts, party activists -- are African American, Latino or Asian. Of about 100 scheduled panels and workshops, less than a half-dozen dealt directly with women or minority issues.

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