The only way you can describe Obama‘s cabinet as lacking southerners is if you ignore blacks and women in the cabinet. As Steve Benen points out, Carol Browner is from Florida, Ron Kirk is a Texan, and Lisa Jackson is from New Orleans.
But the southern “snub” isn’t really about there being no “southerners” in the cabinet. It’s about there not being enough white men in the cabinet — complaining about a lack of southerners is a less embarrassing way of expressing that than sounding like Michael Savage. For decades, “southernness” has symbolized a kind of white normalcy. It’s why presidential candidates, no matter how brilliant (Clinton) or blue-blooded (Bush) have been able to use a southern identity to present themselves as “regular” Americans. It’s why McCain aide Nancy Pfotenhauer said “Real Virginia” is “southern in nature.” “Real Americans” are “southern in nature” and the only way to be “southern in nature” is to be white, and preferably a man. These thumbsuckers instinctively omit Kirk, Jackson, and Browner becasue they are essentially about the decline of what Bill O’Reilly fondly refers to as “the white male power structure.”
–A. Serwer