is that Dean should've looked outside of Vermont if necessary in order to find minorities for his cabinet. That may or may not be a valid point. Vermont has a population less than that of San Francisco and a very small percentage of those are black or Latino. If the goal is to find the best qualified Vermonters to work in the state's cabinet, then the choices were probably pretty limited. If the goal is to put minorities on the cabinet even if they are from out of state, then Dean could've looked elsewhere. Personally, I think it's appropriate to say that a member of a state's cabinet should have experience with that state. Suggesting that all cabinets have to have a certain number of minorities sounds like another quota program.

If this is seen as an example of "Do as I say, not as I do", then it certainly wouldn't be the first time. I recall hearing several years ago about an incident that came up during the confirmation hearings for Ruth Ginsberg. She was being questioned by a Republican, I think it was Strom Thurman, about whether a large staff with no minority members would constitute evidence of racial bias. Ginsberg suggested that it did. Thurman then pointed out that Ginsberg's own staff in her then position didn't have any minorities. He followed it up by saying that he supported a president's right to nominate whomever he pleased. Had he pushed the point, he could likely have derailed Ginzberg's confirmation. Instead, she was confirmed with only 3 Republicans voting against her. Sure sounds different from the confirmation hearings of the past few years, doesn't it? I've tried to find a reference for this story online but have been unable to do so. Perhaps my memory is faulty, or perhaps it just isn't available.