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The question that is in the pipeline in case Barack Obama becomes the first black American president: Can Barack Obama use the same formula and choose mostly black members for his cabinet as the other white presidents usually did in the past adding only a quota of the usual minorities to their cabinets, a black person, a Spanish person, and a woman?
It would be interesting to see an Obama Cabinet made mostly of black members with the usual minority – this time around the white man.
There are many interesting questions that will rise if the United States finally elects the first black man as its president.
How many black members he will be allowed to have on his cabinet?
Here is a list of potential cabinet members if Barack Obama becomes the president of the United States in November 2008.
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Using a similar formula that they have been using to create a new cabinet after a presidential election - Here is a list of potential cabinet members if Barack Obama becomes the president of the United States in November 2008.
Vice President
Jesse Jackson
Secretary of Defense
James Earl Jones
Secretary of Labor
Oprah Winfrey
Secretary of the Treasury
Stan O'Neal
Secretary of Education
Cornel West
Secretary of State
Al Sharpton
Secretary of Agriculture
George Foreman
Secretary of the Interior
Toni Morrison
Secretary of Commerce
Robert Johnson
Secretary of Energy
Ralph Nader
Secretary of Transportation
Harold Ford Jr.
Secretary of Health &
Human Services
Randall Robinson
Department of Homeland Security
Bill Cosby
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Marion Barry
Secretary of Housing &
Urban Development
Cory Booker
Department of Justice
Attorney General.
Louis Farrakhan
Cabinet Rank Members
President's Chief of Staff
Don King
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I am not sure that the United States as a country is prepared for the consequences and if many Americans are ready to accept the election of the first black man as its new president – since below the surface we still have today a lot of discrimination that is going on against black people in the United States.
Today the United States has a population of over 300 million people including about 50 million black people – for all practical purposes the black population represents less than 20 percent of the total population.
People from around the world will find interesting how a man representing such a small minority of the population was able to become the leader of a nation such as the United States.
What it will be the world’s reaction regarding the US electing the first black president?
These are all legitimate questions that people will be asking not only in the United States, but also in many other countries from around the world.
And what kind of impact these changes are going to have in the United States - not only on its domestic policies, but also on its foreign policies (regarding the perception that people would have around the world about the United States after these changes were made.)
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The Democratic Party wanted to make an experiment when they decided to have as its nominee for the November 2008 election the first woman or the first black man.
I wonder if the black man is elected president if he would be allowed to choose mostly black members for his cabinet.
The above list of names are just a list of names of prominent black Americans that came to mind when I was thinking about this issue.
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Most of these people listed here are prominent black leaders in the black community around the country – and many of them are known at least to the average American, and some names are also known outside of the United States. For example:
Vice President
Jesse Jackson (He did run for president of the United States in the past.)
Secretary of Defense
James Earl Jones (He looks like a tough guy and I could not come up with a better name for this position.)
Secretary of Labor
Oprah Winfrey (She is certainly more qualified for the job than the current Labor Secretary that nobody knows who she is. When I ask around who is the current Labor Secretary not a single person knows the answer to that question. If you don’t believe me just start asking your friends and relatives and you will know what I am talking about.)
Secretary of the Treasury
Stan O'Neal (Until a few weeks ago he was the CEO of Merrill Lynch one of the largest investment banks in the US)
Secretary of Education
Cornel West (A famous black American professor from Princeton and Harvard Universities.)
Secretary of State
Al Sharpton (He also run for president in 2004)
Secretary of Agriculture
George Foreman (I could not come up with a name for this position, and I did pick George Foreman because of his commercials about food.)
Secretary of the Interior
Toni Morrison (She is a Literature Nobel Prize winner.)
Secretary of Commerce
Robert Johnson (The founder of BET a television network – and probably one of the richest black Americans living today in the US.)
Secretary of Energy
Ralph Nader (Everybody knows who Ralph Nader is – he would represent the white man on Obama’s Cabinet.) (By the way, Ralph Nader is very well qualified for this position.)
Secretary of Transportation
Harold Ford Jr. (He is another well known black politician.)
Secretary of Health & Human Services
Randall Robinson (A very smart man who is a frequent guest at the Charlie Rose Show. Randall Robinson, a graduate of Virginia Union University and Harvard Law School, is founder of TransAfrica, the organization that spearheaded the movement to influence U.S. policies toward Africa and the Caribbean. He played a significant role in the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa and in the pro-democracy movement in Haiti.)
Department of Homeland Security
Bill Cosby (Everybody knows who Bill Cosby is and how much he cares about improving education for black Americans, and improving their lives in general.)
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Marion Barry (He is an old time well known black politician.)
Secretary of Housing & Urban Development
Cory Booker (He is one of the up coming black politicians who are trying to make a difference and he is dealing with real problems and he has a very tough job in Newark, NJ regarding his efforts in trying to turn that city around.)
Department of Justice
Attorney General.
Louis Farrakhan (He is one of the most well know black leaders in the US and in many as well as in other parts of the world. (He has international recognition.)
Cabinet Rank Members
President's Chief of Staff
Don King (Don King certainly would grab the attention of the listeners.)
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Note: I was just trying to make a point here. And the choice of prominent black leaders to be assigned for each cabinet position on my example has been limited to my knowledge of well known black Americans.
I don't know many black Americans and most of the ones that I know are from watching television - that is why my choice has been very limited and included mostly celebrities that I see on television.
There were various cabinet positions that I could not come up with a single name that is why I used some of the names of popular black celebrities such as Bill Cosby.
If you are a white person just try this exercise yourself - see if you can come up with the name of prominent black leaders to fill each cabinet post.
See if you can do a better job than I could.
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