No one in Washington would be so impolitic as to refer to this cadre of women as Barack's Babes, but Republican strategist Jim Nuzzo is not shy of the comparison. "Let us hope for all our sakes that this generation of talented women does a better job than Blair's babes did," he said. He argues that while the appointment of so many high profile figures in senior roles is significant for race relations in America, the real revolution will only have taken place when it is no longer regarded as newsworthy.