Biden hired a bunch of people who look nothing like him

Fulton noted that it’s not about racking up diversity statistics for the sake of it, but about bringing a different perspective to roles that affect marginalized communities. Having Cecelia Rouse, who was, from 2021 to 2023, the first Black woman to chair the Council of Economic Advisers in its 75-year history, or Shalanda Young, the first Black woman to lead the Office of Management and Budget, brings minority experience to positions typically held by white men. The same goes for Reta Jo Lewis, the first Black woman and person of color to lead the Export-Import Bank, and Michael S. Regan, the first Black man to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Biden is even surpassing Barack Obama’s two-term record for diversity in the Cabinet and the courts: Obama successfully appointed 16 women to Cabinet or sub-Cabinet positions during his eight years, while Biden has successfully He appointed 13 in less than one term, According to the Center for Women and American Politics at Rutgers University. A record 42 percent of Obama’s judge picks were women, according to a study Pew Research Center Analysisfewer than Biden’s female-majority slate of judges. Pew calculated that 36 percent of all Obama-appointed judges were nonwhite; Washington Post analysis May shows the opposite for Biden: 36 percent of his at-large judicial picks are white.

And of course, it was Biden who historically chose Jackson for the Supreme Court. It was something civil rights advocates had hoped Obama would do, but they understood why it would have been risky (and he did choose two women, one of whom is the first Latina on the Supreme Court). While the American public elected a man who could bring his own black experience to the job, they didn’t always want to hear it. Witness what happened when Obama had the gall to express his personal reaction to the arrest of Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, the late black Harvard professor, by local police after he entered his own home (a neighbor had reported a possible burglary). Obama said the Cambridge police “acted stupidly,” rightly noting that “you probably don’t need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man using a cane, who’s in his own home,” but the reaction was strong enough that he staged an awkward “beer summit” at the White House with Gates and the arresting officer.