By Zenitha Prince
Washington Bureau Chief

(December 23, 2008) - For centuries, the White House has worked hard to live up to its name.

In administration after administration, there has been “a severe paucity of anyone besides White males in the White House,” said David Campt, a diversity consultant and former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton on race issues.

But that’s about to change, as President-elect Barack Obama is set to usher in one of the most diverse administrations in United States’ history. And unlike other diversity initiatives of the past couple of decades, his does not seem to be based on a quota, observers say.

“I suspect while there is an awareness of how the numbers look, that’s not the primary driver,” Campt, the so-called “race doctor,” said. “We’ve gotten to the point where you don’t have to work super hard to find qualified candidates that are not the White males we’re accustomed to seeing.”

David Campt, Diversity Consultant

Still, for African Americans the numbers look pretty good, especially with the quantity of Black women who are candidates for the 44th president’s cabinet and White House staff.

At last count, five Black women are set to take on major roles in the new administration: Susan Rice as the United Nations ambassador; Melody Barnes as Obama’s director of the Domestic Policy Council; Valerie Jarrett as a senior adviser and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison; Lisa Jackson as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator and Desireé Rogers as the first African-American social secretary for the White House.

“These women are dynamic choices,” Melanie Campbell, executive director and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) said, then added, “Having Black women at the table, we’ll be able to help the new administration bring change to Washington and get things done.”

The curriculum vitae of the candidates bear up Campbell’s claim.

Rice, a former Rhodes scholar and Brookings Institute fellow, was on the Obama campaign from the beginning, serving as a senior foreign policy adviser. From 1997-2001, she was the assistant secretary of state for African Affairs. Prior to that, Rice served in the White House at the National Security Council as special assistant to the president and senior director for African Affairs and as director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping.

Said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of Rice’s nomination: “Susan Rice is a sharp, trusted foreign policy mind who will bring an incredible ability and energy to the United Nations.”

In making his announcement on Dec. 1, Obama said Rice is a worthy envoy to implement his vision for rebuilding America’s standing in the world “Susan knows that the global challenges we face demand global institutions that work,” he said.

“Having Black women at the table, we’ll be able to help the new administration bring change to Washington and get things done.”

Melody Barnes, the domestic policy adviser-appointee, is one of the more progressive voices on Obama’s team. She served as the president-elect’s senior adviser on domestic policies during the campaign. She has also served as executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress and as chief counsel to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Back in January 2007, Barnes gave some idea of what her approach to policy-making on issues of health, education, the environment and science will be when she wrote an op-ed piece for {The Washington Post} entitled, “What a Progressive President Might Say.”

“Here at home there is urgent work to do to fight the historically high -- and growing -- gap between our richest and poorest citizens,” Barnes wrote. “To restore fairness to our system, I will embark on a multi-faceted approach including increasing our investment in public education, promoting genuine health care reform, and backing a higher minimum wage.”

The other women are just as impressive and seem equally suited to implement Obama’s mandate for change.

Valerie Jarrett, Senior Adviser and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison

While Valerie Jarrett, 52, a longtime confidant and friend of the Obamas, has only just gained a national profile, in Chicago she is a fixture in the city’s civic, corporate and social framework. She sits on several committees, including the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees and the Museum of Science and Industry board. She’s also president and chief executive officer of the Habitat Co., one of Chicago's largest real estate firms.

She’s also been tested in the treacherous waters of Chicago politics, surviving eight years in Chicago's City Hall, most of them under Mayor Richard Daley, and eventually rising to planning and development commissioner and chair of the Chicago Transit Board.

Now, she will serve as Obama’s diplomat to federal, state and local officials. And, more importantly, she will work to maintain the momentum of civic involvement garnered during the campaign.

“The level of the engagement in the campaign was tremendous, and we want people to understand this will be their White House,” she said in an interview about her role in the Office of the Public Liaison. The president-elect “was so committed to a grass-roots campaign and wanted to keep that energy galvanized in a positive direction.”

Lisa Jackson, Obama’s choice for EPA chief, was culled from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection which she ran in 2006 until Oct. 24 of this year when Gov. Jon Corzine announced her new post as his chief of staff.

Desireé Rogers, White House Social Secretary-appointee

The professional engineer helped develop the Northeastern states Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), serving as vice president of its executive board. And, she’s also focused on water issues, including expanding protections for surface waters that serve as sources of drinking water and habitat for endangered species.

Rogers, 49, another Chicago heavy-hitter and a friend of the Obamas, will also bring a lengthy résumé to her new post. She served as a fundraiser for the Obama campaign while working at Allstate Financial, where she was creating a social network of clients and consumers. The Harvard MBA was previously the president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas and managed the lottery for then-Gov. Jim Edgar in the 1990s.

"This appointment sends a strong message that the Obamas want to use the White House strategically, to maximize its use in a way that is consistent with their philosophy -- [to] open it to a broader range of people, " said Jarrett, a friend of Rogers's, in an interview. "Desirée is a heavy hitter -- she comes with her own range of contacts from around the country. She's close to Michelle and she knows everyone who will be working in the West Wing, so she will be able to create a synergy."

Campt, the diversity expert and principal of The DWC Group, said these appointments signify “an important development” for African-American social progress.

“By having those people in there, it makes it more likely for African-American interests to be considered,” he said. “They do not have a track record of distancing themselves from Black interests.”

Obama’s team as well as his record as a legislator, community organizer and intellectual “indicates he has an appreciation for the fact that certain communities have historical disadvantages that makes a difference in terms of building an inclusive and equitable society,” Campt added.

Campbell, whose work with the NCBCP’s Black Women’s Roundtable, FUTURE PAC and other organizations revolves around increasing the involvement of Black women in politics, said she hopes these high profile appointments would help African-American women see themselves differently.

“Black women are definitely part of the best and the brightest,” she said, adding that she hopes this would help mobilize women at all levels to aspire towards leadership in politics, the civil rights community and elsewhere.

Campbell said, “We are encouraging Black women from all walks of life to step up and serve.”

“She will carry the message that our commitment to multilateral action must be coupled with a commitment to reform. We need the UN to be more effective as a venue for collective action against terror and proliferation; climate change and genocide; poverty and disease.”