How many African-Americans are in President Obama's cabinet?

Answer 1

Going by Wikipedia, it looks like there are currently 23 or 24 if you include the President himself. There are 15 department heads...

Secretary of State - Hillary Rodham Clinton

Secretary of the Treasury - Timothy Geithner

Secretary of Defense - Robert Gates

Attorney General - Eric Holder

Secretary of the Interior - Ken Salazar

Secretary of Agriculture - Tom Vilsack

Secretary of Commerce - Gary Locke

Secretary of Labor - Hilda Solis

Secretary of Health and Human Services - Kathleen Sebelius

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development - Shaun Donovan

Secretary of Transportation - Ray LaHood

Secretary of Energy - Steven Chu

Secretary of Education - Arne Duncan

Secretary of Veterans Affairs - Eric Shinseki

Secretary of Homeland Security - Janet Napolitano

...and 7 cabinet level officers...

Vice President of the United States - Joseph Biden

White House Chief of Staff - Rahm Emanuel

Director of the Office of Management and Budget - Peter Orszag

United States Trade Representative - Ron Kirk

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency - Lisa P. Jackson

Ambassador to the United Nations - Susan Rice

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers - Christina Romer

...but it's slippery. For instance, that Wikipedia article mentions the Press Secretary (currently Robert Gibbs) as a cabinet-level official in its text, but he was not included in the list above. I believe it's kind of plastic. I suppose the President could appoint a Representative of Joe Blow if he wanted to (not sure if the Senate would have to confirm it), and fire him or eliminate the position at will.

Including the missing Press Secretary, the best answer I can provide is 24. If you count members of his unofficial "Kitchen Cabinet" (undoubtedly every President has one) then who knows?

Answer 2

It is difficult to answer this question because not everyone at the cabinet level has identified his or her religious preference. We do know of at least two cabinet-level members who are Jewish, and we also know that several of Mr. Obama's chief strategists (including David Axelrod) are Jewish.

Answer 3

First, this answer s being written in early 2012, and it will soon change, because presidents frequently add new people to their cabinet in their second term. In his first term, President Obama named General Eric Shinseki, a retired Army veteran, as the head of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs in 2009. And until 2011 when he retired, the Secretary of Defense was Robert Gates, a former officer in the U.S. Air Force. General David Petraeus was appointed to be the head of the CIA in 2011, but he resigned in November 2012 due to the revelation of his marital infidelity.

In his new cabinet, President Obama is planning to nominate two former Vietnam veterans, John Kerry for Secretary of State and Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense. The president has also had several National Security Advisers who were veterans, and has appointed veterans to run governmental agencies related to the military; one example is former senator (and Vietnam veteran) Max Cleland, who was appointed to be head of the American Battle Monuments Commission in 2009.

Answer 4

Obama has 15 cabinet members

Answer 5

Three 3