Women in Obama Administration | 03/18/2009 1:15 pm

Powerful 'Obama Women' Share Sisterly Bond

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Valerie Jarrett © Getty Images

It’s not the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (or, as Hillary Clinton says, "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits"), but the sisterhood of the Obama administration.

The black women now heading up huge jobs in the administration have a certain bond: They’re of a small cadre of women of color who have made it into Washington’s upper echelons. Women like Margaret Hamburg (who is black and Jewish) as the future Food and Drug Administration chief, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson, chief adviser Valerie Jarrett and deputy chief of staff and foreign affairs expert Mona Sutphen are among the seven black women that make up about three dozen of President Obama’s team.

While they are all extremely busy in their new posts, The Washington Post reports, they’re reminded that they are making history. Melody Barnes, who runs Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, says she’s often congratulated at church.

"I certainly feel it when someone my grandfather’s age stops me to say, ‘Sweetheart, I’m proud of you,’ but at the same time we are here to do a job," Barnes told the Post. "For the most part, when we walk into the West Wing, we are focused on that job throughout the day."

These fine ladies have worked hard to get where they are, and kudos to President Obama for making sure women of all colors are represented in his administration.

For a closer look at these ladies, check out our slideshow: "10 ‘Obama Women’ Who Are Changing Washington."

18 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

I am certain President Obama made the right choices. They are highly qualified and accomplished women. They are well educated and articulate. They are deserving and have worked very hard and hard work pays off. There needs to be a sisterhood. They’re such a small number, they need support systems. I am delighted to see they are not doing the stereotypical things women are accused of doing like stabbing each other in the back and bad mouthing each other . I am happy they got the memo that there is enough room for everyone at the table and the pie is large enough for everyone to get a slice. Their priority is America and America comes first! They are members of a team. A team which includes all of us. They have been hired to do a job and should be focusing on the tasks at hand. I am happy to learn they are. Personally, I am very proud of them. I wish them much success in accomplishing the tasks given them. America has a long way to go , I am certain we will get there. President Obama has a great repect for women and their abilities. He’s married to an incredible woman First Lady Michelle Obama.

By L. C. on 03/18/2009 2:13 pm

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Change we can believe in.

By DeBúrca obj on 03/18/2009 2:31 pm

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OK, I am clueless. I have seen pictures of Valerie Jarrett and had no idea she was black until I saw this article telling me so.

By Lila Kuh on 03/18/2009 3:54 pm

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Lila Kuh Black people come in all shades. Anyway, what does it matter? She’s a qualified individual appointed to do a job by President Obama ; thats’s the bottom line. I am recommending an excellent book for you to read "Sex and Race" By J.A. Rogers.

By L. C. on 03/18/2009 4:39 pm

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Hi LC, agreed - it doesn’t matter, I am all for competence wherever we can find it!

Personally - if I could do away with race divisions I would, in a heartbeat. There is no real line between black, white, or whoever; it is only in our minds.

By Lila Kuh on 03/18/2009 5:13 pm

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This is excellent news for ALL women! Kudos to them for making it to the top, I have nothing but admiration for them all!

By Slinky Binx on 03/18/2009 6:27 pm

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It’s wonderful. The photos coming out of the White House these days show groups of people that really reflect the make-up of the American population. I love it! No token this or token that - just people hired to do their jobs.

By Sam Mirando on 03/18/2009 6:40 pm

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Why are they considered powerful? To whom are they powerful?

By Lori F. on 03/18/2009 6:41 pm

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It is commonly accepted that those who have the ears of the powerful are, themselves, powerful. Ms. Jarrett has been a friend and advisor to the Obamas for many years. You can bet that they listen to her and seek out her advice, so that her agenda becomes their agenda. And the handsome woman who is Social Secretary? Who doesn’t want to be on her good side since she has considerable power to invite or disinvite guests to the White House and to seat them in Siberia or on the Gold Coast, next to bores or powerbrokers.

By Sam Mirando on 03/18/2009 6:47 pm

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By the way, isn’t it great that, as the cartoon dog in the New Yorker said, "On the internet, nobody can tell you’re a dog." We talk here without knowing any more about each other than each of us is willing to reveal. Can I be 5’8" and 125 lbs please? Long dark tresses and no wrinkles? Pert little you-know-whats? And, for skin color? Meh, whatever you like.

By Sam Mirando on 03/18/2009 6:44 pm

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Oh, Sam I Am, I know what you look like and I’d describe you as short in statue, long on looking like a classic beauty plus being one of the smartest women I know, and even if you weren’t, that English accent you have held onto forever is dynamite!

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 03/19/2009 11:55 am

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Awww!! I’m going to have to print that out and frame it!!!

By Sam Mirando on 03/19/2009 12:11 pm

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After hitting the glass ceiling in 1978 at the age of 32, I’m delighted to see in living color that it doesn’t exist any more. Thank goodness……Things have changed.

By Suzanne Frazier on 03/18/2009 9:29 pm

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I am thrilled that Obama’s administration looks like America and that he has many, many strong, intelligent women in his Cabinet. But I have to ask if articles, like the two here on WOW right now are counter productive.

As someone else posted, I didn’t know (or care) that Valerie Jarrett is black; or that another member of his Administration is black and Jewish; why do we have to keep going with the ‘tags.’ Why does race/ethnicity have to be documented and commented upon. Why not just accept these women as professional, highly educated contributors to our government. If they were all of a different ancestory, would the second paragraph lead be ‘Caucasian women of power…’ Loose the tags…discuss the credentials, the policies, etc. We will never trully be ‘color blind’ as a nation as long as everyone’s race/ethnicty must be noted (even well intentedly).

By Mary Quite-Contrary on 03/19/2009 7:05 am

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Thanks, Mary Contrary. You said it better… I do wish we could lose the "tags." I have a "tag" myself which I don’t identify with and pretty much ignore, but it always makes me pause when filling out forms asking for my race/ethnicity. Sometimes I answer one way; other times another way. I also have a friend who is half Asian but calls herself white, since she identifies strongly with her white parent - that caused her a lot of trouble in school (the teachers kept calling her "Oriental") but why should it? Labels, labels.

By Lila Kuh on 03/19/2009 7:28 am