A diverse Cabinet?

>>> since susan rice took herself out of the running for secretary of state, her supporters have cried foul, her critics believe they have a victory. and this question is being asked anew. will the president's cabinet have the diversity once promised? our chief foreign affairs important andrea mitchell .

>> maybe it's janet napolitano moving over to attorney general, but among those four top posts, you've got to have more women, you've got to have more diversity.

>> in washington, marsha greenberger, founder and co-president of the national women's law center . good morning.

>> the daily beast lloyd grove suggested their personality played a role in all of this. here's what he wrote, in the rough and tumble political combat, personality trumps polity. she is frequently described in the press with such adjective as brusque, aggressive and undiplomatic in the extreme. marsha , if susan rice were a man, do you think it's possible that the outcome could have been different? do you see any gender bias in this operation?

>> i can surely tell you we would not be hearing those kind of criticisms. to begin with, i think the attack on her was clearly so overblown and really without foundation, and then to add insult to injury , this kind of rationale, when the original statements that she made on talk shows was patently absurd, really is angering because the idea that women are too brusque or they're to too aggressive is such a drastic put down on questioning the idea that she's not smart. these are the things that drive women crazy and there's been study after study about women in the corporate setting and in every setting, they're damned if they do, they're damned if they don't, if they don't put themselves forward, they're pushovers, they're too wreak, they're not serious.

>> could there be any kind of backlash, michael, could some of the republicans have already had a problem with minorities and women, if we look at the statistics from the last election, if we could just re-enforce those stereotypes.

>> i think that's the thing that the republicans in the senate especially who would have to vote on the nomination would clearly have had to take into consideration, that would have been part of the political calculus from the president, can you put an african- american woman forward and does that make it more difficult is that calculation about a backlash make it more difficult for republican senators to oppose her, clearly the president, the white house felt that no matter what pressure they might feel, the opposition was still going to be very strong going forward.

>> michael, marsha , thanks for coming