Update regarding censored comments at end.

I trust that all the progressive feminists who backed Obama and trash-talked Sarah Palin will join in the call to gender-equalize Presidential appointments and hired personnel for the new Administration.  As Heidi Li points out, it doesn't look good so far:

So far, none have been announced. It appears that...Representative Rahm Emanuel will be the new President's Chief of Staff. The public face of the administration will also be a man, it appears, as Obama campaign communications director Robert Gibbs is the reported pick for press secretary.

Apparently, President-Elect Obama is not sensitive to the fact that announcing or leaking the names of appointments before any women are included in the top ranks - IF any women are to be included - is further alienating to Democrats who already believe him insensitive (at best) to equal political representation for women.

What do the Obama Feminists have to say?

I don't see a call for gender equalization on this site, or this one.

What do you say, Gloria?

Why aren't all these hip cool liberal progressive feminists who effectively informed every woman who chose not to support Obama that they were not true feminists....

...Why aren't they vocally demanding that Obama live up to his Feminist reputation?

The population is 50-50, or so, men and women.  There is no shortage of qualified women for any political appointment or staff position.  Appointments and hiring should reflect the general population when it comes to sex.  At least.  One might even argue that women should get the upper edge in a progressive Obama Administration, to compensate for historical discrimination.

Regarding Senator Clinton -- if P.E. Obama is disinclined to offer her a Cabinet position (don't hold your breath, PUMAs) --  then I agree with Heidi:

To my mind, this makes it all important that the Democratic Senators vote Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to the position of Senate Majority Leader assuming she is willing to take the position. Senator Clinton's fellow Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, currently second in line in to Senator Harry Reid, Democratic Senate leadership, would ordinarily be considered a natural successor to Reid. Both of these gentlemen should agree to step aside; we know that if they do not and Senator Clinton makes it known she would take the position, let alone that she might actually want it, she will be accused of overstepping. This is an annoying fact, but since it is a fact Reid and Schumer should deal with it and make way for nationally recognized Democrat to lead the Senate in 2009.

Heidi helped set up a website for this purpose. Please visit it here and show your support.

Meantime, I hope the Feminists will hold Obama accountable, now that they've celebrated his election. Otherwise, what WAS the point, ladies?  Just to rally 'round yet another man and hope for eventual recognition?

UPDATE: To those who are unable to see hidden comments:

Every single one of my comments in response to other users in this thread was troll-rated and thus hidden/censored. Yet my comments were all within MyDD guidelines. There seems to be a population of users here who feel that they can troll-rate a comment because they don't like the diarist, regardless of whether the diarist followed the rules established by the site's owners. Is that how Rule-of-Law and Free Speech will be treated now that Obama has been elected: disregarded if someone dares to ask a provocative question of the new President? One user here last night suggested that I go away if I did not intend to "build up" the new administration. Seriously, as if it's now every citizen's duty to endorse everything Obama does. My response, which was hidden/censored, pointed out that there are plenty of individuals and institutions -- least among them the entire Mainstream Media -- who exist to "build up" the new President, and that voices of dissent and criticism are essential in a democracy.

We raise this issue NOW because once appointments and staffing decisions are made, it will be too late. So again, I call on Feminists to join my request now to President Elect Obama that he adopt a goal, and make an affirmative effort, to gender-equalize his Administration with a 50-50 balance between the sexes.

There's more...

In a recent article McSexist,  McCain's War on Women by Kate Sheppard in In These Times, the writer points out a host of reasons why women should not vote for John McCain.

She writes:

Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) campaign and the media would have us believe that herds of disaffected women voters will be stampeding to the Republicans this year because a woman candidate won't be on the presidential ballot in November.

McCain's campaign has been making a clear play for women voters in recent weeks, hosting conference calls with Republican women and touting that his policies on national security, the economy and healthcare appeal to women voters.

But the suggestion that women -- and feminist women, at that -- will be lining up behind him is a fairytale. At least, it should be. McCain's record and policies on issues of importance to women are neither moderate nor maverick.

There's more...

There has been much talk of a feminist backlash against the seemingly inevitable general election campaign of Barack Obama. Viewing such a backlash as solely emotional and self-defeating is incorrect and sexist in itself.

Let me preface the diary with two points. One, for all my misgivings about him, I'm not advocating feminists vote against Obama.  Second, I certainly am not speaking about all feminists. Many will support Obama enthusiastically.

The nomination process has been drenched in sexism, some of which Obama himself has contributed. From `Annie Oakley' to 'the claws come out' to 'sweetie', Obama has demonstrated he not only has sexist attitudes, but mouths them with no hesitation or understanding of the implication of his words. This gives many feminists more than a little pause, and understandably so.

There's more...

We are women who support Hillary Clinton for the presidency of the United States. We do so because we believe that she will be the best president for the entire country. And as feminists, we also believe that Clinton is the best choice for attending to issues of special importance to women.

We write to you now because it's time for feminists to say that Senator Obama has no monopoly on inspiration. We are among the millions of women and men who have been moved to action by her. Six months ago, some of us were committed to her candidacy, some of us weren't, but by now we all find ourselves passionately supporting her. Brains, grace under pressure, ideas, and the skill to make them real: we call that inspiring. The restoration of good government after eight years of devastation, a decent foreign policy with ties to world leaders repaired, withdrawal from Iraq and universal health care: we call that exciting. And the record to prove that she can and will stand up to the swift-boating that will come any Democratic nominee's way: we call that absolutely necessary.

There's more...