Looks like Hillary isn't that excited about State and I think this is just a feint to mollify the Hillary supporters out there.  Perhaps we'll see Penny Pritzker at Commerce, but that might be it for gals in Obamaland.  Hope Obama remembers what happened to JFK when he forgot to appoint enough women in his administration.  Eleanor Roosevelt had to make a little visit to the White House and the rest is history.

Um...are we supposed to be upset that Obama doesn't seem to care to value diversity over talent?  He should pick who he thinks is best and who will work best for him, not assemble Sesame Street (unless- and only unless- there were muppets there: then it would be awesome).  I think Hillary would make a fine SoS, but I would rather have her as legislative point for UHC, and I would far prefer Obama to make damn sure he chooses the best person.  If people want to get their feathers riled up, fine: they'll be mollified by results.

This just in: Obama has announced several key Cabinet and staff positions:

State: Big Bird

Defense: Oscar the Grouch

Treasury: Cookie Monster

AG: Miss Piggy

Interior: Grover

Education: The Count (Ha, ha, ha, ha...)

Agriculture: Elmo

Special liaisons to the LGBT community: Bert and Ernie

Among otherwise equivalently qualified individuals, concerns for diversity -- whether racial, gender, or more importantly diversity of political faction within the Democratic coalition -- are perfectly acceptable deciding criterion. Given that all the names bandied about for State so far are equally mediocre choices for the position, why not pick the woman because she's a girl? I mean, as little as I think of Hillary Clinton, it's hard to see how Richardson or Kerry would be better choices.

The one gender-appointment demand I have is the Supreme Court. The next two SCOTUS openings simply must go to women. If Obama gets to appoint three justices, the third one will be a freebie, but if he's lucky enough to make four appointments, I'll be very disappointed if three out of the four are not women.

cherished reader ec? why is ec cherished and the rest of us viewed as chopped meat?

I am all for diversity and what not, but competence must be the guiding choice, not gender.

boneill you suggest there are no talented women out there.  I don't think Hillary is a strong choice for State.  She is better off in the Senate.   There are few women being mentioned now that Napolitano has had to bow to Holder.  Personally I'm glad she'll stay to steady the ship in AZ, but I think he'll have a little problem on his hands if Penny is the only Obama gal in the cabinet.

"I mean, as little as I think of Hillary Clinton, it's hard to see how Richardson or Kerry would be better choices."

Well, at least Richardson has a pretty good record as a diplomat Kerry has some foreign policy experience.  I'm not overwhelmed by any of the three; Richardson seems much better on paper than he is in reality, although maybe he'd be more in his element as a diplomat than he was as a campaigner.  Biden would have been the obvious pick had he not been chosen as VP.  

But there have got to be better options among the 300,000,000 people who haven't run for President.  Holbrooke for one, or perhaps someone from Obama's group of foreign policy advisers.

Laura Tyson for Treasury.

First off, "experience" should always be regarded as a bullshit word where politics is involved. Remember, until June we were told ad nauseam that Hillary had "experience" up the wazoo. When people talk about a politician's "experience," all they really signify is, "has been present in the room, near the room, in the same political party, or somewhere on television not long before or after an important event took place." It's meaningless, but intended to create the impression of meaning, which makes it bullshit.

Richardson does have a reasonably good record of achievement as a political diplomat. That's much to his credit. But someone will still have to make the case to me that he's capable of running as large and unwieldy a bureaucracy as State. Because that's the secretary of state's most important job. A good president can be his own chief diplomat, and anyway we have a whole corps of actual diplomats posted to every major city in the world who can do the work of diplomacy. All cabinet secretaries are first and foremost chief operating officers of a large federal department. Neither Hillary nor Kerry have ever in their lives demonstrated any talent as an executive. Richardson at least has the "experience" of being a governor, but I don't know whether he's actually been any good at the job. That would be the best indicator of whether he's a better choice than Hillary.