A box unchecked

An Ambinder reader notices a gap in the diversity of the otherwise extraordinarily, thoroughly diverse Obama cabinet: Southerners.

John Edwards probably would have filled that slot, had he not fallen from grace. Sam Nunn and Max Cleland have been mentioned, but faded.

Their absence is part happenstance, but also reflects the declining political power of a region that used to be crucial, and also the fact that -- as Jonathan Martin and I wrote just after the election -- Obama's win sprang in some organic way from the newer, faster-growing, better-educated regions of the country, which don't include most of the South.

Meanwhile, a quick thought on the rest of the cabinet makeup: Bill Clinton, former aides say, worked hard for his Cabinet that "looks like America," and reached outside the normal establishment channels for some of his picks. George W. Bush, reaching into a less diverse GOP, did the same in some cases.

Sixteen years later, Obama hasn't had make any apparent special effort to avoid having a cabinet dominated by white guys: People like Susan Rice, Steven Chu, Eric Shinseki, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, Janet Napolitano, and Eric Holder are obvious choices, with their own power bases, relationships with Obama, and/or establishment credentials -- some earned at high levels of the Clinton administration -- that the notion of a special effort to ensure diversity at the top level of this administration seems sort of irrelevant. That doesn't mean that there's no effort for racial balance or box-checking, but it's a different story than in years past.