President Barack Obama has demonstrated the growing influence of the nation’s largest minority group by appointing more Hispanics to high office than any president during his first year in office.
Since Inauguration Day, Obama has appointed 43 individuals of Hispanic descent to high level positions in the administration and in the federal government, including two Cabinet secretaries and the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor. This does not include the more than two dozen Hispanic staffers working in the White House who do not require Senate confirmation.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, Obama won two-thirds of the Hispanic vote in the 2008 presidential race. Many view his recent appointments as a gesture of gratitude to the Hispanic community, whose support helped him win the White House.
Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, says he believes that Obama has tried to hire Hispanics, “I think the president has been very intentional about it, and he’s delivered.”
According to the White House, the appointments have not been that intentional. White House spokesman Adam Abrams said, “The president has made it an effort for his administration to reflect America’s great diversity.”
He went on to say, “But the most conscious effort has been to appoint the best and most qualified candidates for each position.”
Obama has far exceeded his predecessors in Hispanic appointments. President George Bush appointed 34 Hispanics and President Bill Clinton appointed 30 Hispanics in their first years
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said “I am proud that this administration has appointed a significantly higher proportion of Latinos.than previous administrations. More importantly, while we have made the strongest start in history in this area, we also know that we have more opportunities in the coming months”.
Obama, shortly after taking office, nominated three Hispanic cabinet secretaries choosing Solis for Labor secretary; Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., for Interior secretary; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson for Commerce secretary.
Richardson later withdrew from consideration due to a federal grand jury probe involving campaign donors.
Obama still has more than 200 appointments to make.
Congratulations to all those Latinos that have been appointed to high Offices. We hope that they will not let the President down and that they will execute accordingly. We continue the strugle. The Administration need to appoint also many of the lower post such as Regional Administrators at the Region and State levels. Best of Luck to all of you.