Pandering the women’s vote, 68-year-old former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton promised at an MSNBC town hall meeting to appoint at least 50% women to her Cabinet. Asked by host Rachel Maddow whether she’d match 44-year-old newly minted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise to have 50% women in his Cabinet, Hillary said why not?. “Well, I am going to have Cabinet that looks like America,” said Hillary. “And 50% of America are women, right?” Picking Cabinet members or any job applicant, for that matter, based on gender is the worst possible way to assure the best person makes it to key government positions. Using the presidency to equalize historic inequality in a traditionally male-dominated workforce is preposterous. Cabinet positions should be filled based on qualifications, not an applicant’s gender, sexual orientation or minority status.
President Barack Obama went the same route stacking his office or judicial appointments with African Americans to equalize inequality. While there’s nothing wrong with experienced and qualified women and minorities, a president, or CEO, should be obligated to install the best candidate in whatever position. If that means that women and minorities don’t get the job, so be it. Running the presidency is not about correcting longstanding workplace inequality. It’s not discrimination when SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk picks mostly white men as engineers and scientists in his space and automotive companies. Putting the best product on the market requires the most experienced and qualified individuals, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or minority status. No Cabinet official should be given preference because of their gender or any other demographic.
Hillary’s campaign Chairman John Podesta hastened to point out that he’ll vet women for vice president as well. “We’ll start with a broad list and then begin to narrow it,” Podesta told the Boston Globe, already anticipating Sen. Bernie Sanders dropping out after today’s I-95 primaries. Republican front-runner Donald Trump objected to Hillary promising to give preferential treatment to women. “The only thing she’s got going is the women card,” said Trump. “We call her “crooked Hillary” because she’s a crooked person. She’s always been a crooked person,” looking ahead to what looks like dream match-up with the former secretary of state. Trump’s mentioned many times that Hillary’s email scandal should have disqualified her from president. Under pressure from her chief rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Hillary has shifted her campaign to the left to appeal to his supporters.
Despite polls showing Hillary and Trump with the biggest negatives heading into November, both reveal the biggest contrasts. Hillary backs strongly President Barack Obama’s signature Obamacare legislation while, Trump, on the other hand, promises to repeal the Affordable Care Act. More than anything, Hillary and Trump differ on foreign policy, especially the Syrian War where Hillary backs the Saudi proxy war to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Trump called Hillary out for backing the Iraq War that flooded the Mideast with terrorism. Trump ripped Obama and Hillary’s policy of toppling Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Gadddafi, now flooding Libya with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. Hillary plans to continue the Obama policy of backing the Saudi proxy war in Syria, despite driving U.S.-Russian relations to the lowest point since the Cold War.
Hillary’s promise to stack her Cabinet with women shows that she’s not concerned about hiring the best-and-brightest but using the White House to correct longstanding workplace injustices. Podesta’s speculation about VP picks area designed to get women out to vote, more than mirroring Hillary actual VP picks. It’s highly doubtful Hillary would pick a woman running mate, especially because Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) opposes Hillary’s ties to Wall Street. Warren became Hillary’s biggest critic in her book “A Fighting Chance,” discussing Hillary’s change of heart on the 2001 bankruptcy bill, voting with Walls Street’s banking lobby. Talking about women Cabinet appointees, Hillary hopes to consolidate her support from women primary voters. Playing the women card, Trump sees Hillary’s ploy as proof of his “crooked Hillary” label.
Promising Cabinet positions for gender is no way of picking members to run Hillary’s White House. Cabinet officials must be picked only on the basis of who’s best qualified for the position, not because of gender, sexual orientation, minority status or any other demographic. Hillary’s campaign team led by Podesta are masters of spin, floating one trial balloon after another to gauge public reaction. Talking about a woman VP is yet another ploy, dangling the far-fetched idea before women voters. Balancing the ticket, Hillary is most likely to pick middle-of-the-road white males like 58-year-old Sen. Time Caine (D-Va.) or 63-year-old Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), both appealing to independents and crossover Republicans. Talk of picking a woman or minorities grabs headlines but won’t win Hillary any votes in November. Whether Hillary’s “crooked” or not, her campaign likes to blow smoke.
