Rice withdrawal sparks gender concerns on Cabinet

The top contenders for the "big three" jobs moncler sale cheap in President Barack Obama's second-term Cabinet are all white men, rekindling concerns among Democratic women about diversity in his inner circle.

Now that Susan Rice has withdrawn under pressure from consideration as the next secretary of state, Democratic Sen. John Kerry of M**achusetts is the front-runner for the nation's top diplomatic post. Former Republican Sen. Chu  moncler sale k Hagel of Nebraska is Obama's favored candidate to run the Pentagon, and White House chief of staff Jack Lew is likely to be his next treasury secretary if he wants the job.

"The boys network is alive and well," Democratic activist Donna Brazile wrote on Twitter after Rice withdrew. "The war on qualified women continues here in DC."

Rice, the U.S. amb**ador to the United Nations and a close friend of the president, dropped out of consideration for the State D moncler outlet c epartment job Thursday. That followed months of withering criticism from Republicans over her initial comments about the attacks on Americans in Benghazi, Libya — criticism several female House Democrats said smacked of **ism and racism. Rice is black.

Her withdrawal reignited questions about gender diversity in the upper echelons of the administratio moncler jackets n, a concern that has nagged at the Obama White House for years. The questions grew so persistent early in Obama's first term that the president invited his upper-level female staffers to a dinner to get their input on how to shake his administration's "boys club" reputation.

Now, senior administration officials are consideri moncler coats ng whether a prominent woman should be named to a top Cabinet post in order to create gender balance, according to a person familiar with White House thinking. That person spoke only on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to publi moncler onlinecly discuss internal White House deliberations.