Obama sets record pace with Latino appointments

If you're keeping score, President Barack Obama has appointed more Latinos to his administration during his first year in office than any president in history. And there are still four months left in his first year.

Obama has nominated, and the Senate has confirmed, a total of 43 Latinos to the many departments in the federal government. That includes more than 20 White House staffers and the historic and highly profiled appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Latino nominees represent 14 percent of the 304 appointees so far. His immediate predecessors are the ones who come closest to his record. In their first years in office, President Bill Clinton appointed 30 Latinos to his administration; President George W. Bush appointed 34.

Let's make the other easy comparison, the one that's more obvious than it is relevant. While the president's Latino nominations represent 14 percent of the total number of nominees, the Latino population represents 15 percent of the total population of the country. There's a balance that resists the urge to protest. But there's also the danger of falling to the easy and unintelligent reflex of calling the president's nominations a quota.

That's what happens when we begin to draw lines along cultural, racial, gender and religious lines. I'd like to think that the president and his team reached deep into the well of our country's talent to find the brightest persons available. I'd rather give him points for not picking the obvious, low-hanging fruit. And then as an afterthought, looking back on his appointments so far, noting the diversity and deciding to count.

The gratifying news is that there is talent across the nation's diverse population, and the better news is that they are being noticed, tapped and put to do important work. I unapologetically say that America is the better for it.

There will be those who will say that the high number of Latino appointments is in answer to the Latino support that President Obama received at the polls last November. Two thirds of Latino voters chose Obama over McCain. The idea here is that he owed as much to the Latino community.

And if that's the case, there's nothing outstanding about his manner of choice. He chose according to political debts, as every other president has before him. It follows, then, that Latino's may have finally come of public political age. Latino's may have grown politically to the point that their contribution is rendered worthy of prime political posts. And that's not a bad point of growth.

It's also not a bad first step. Part of the advantage of getting the nod for a post in a presidential administration is what comes after. Working for a president of the United States historically leads to plum positions in politics, academia, business, industry and, if all else fails, lobbying.
The point is that this is noteworthy. The fact that there is a record number of Latino appointees in a record amount of time is something to notice, and follow. It means plenty to the Latino community, and even more so to Obama's politics. And there are still another 200 or so positions to be filled.

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