THE president-elect’s first administration hires had all been middle-aged white men who had backed him to the hilt when others wrinkled their noses. But with a pair of nominations announced on November 23rd he rang the changes. He named Nikki Haley, the Indian-American governor of South Carolina, to be his ambassador to the United Nations, and Betsy DeVos, a billionaire Republican benefactress, as his education secretary. As The Economist went to press, he was also reported to have invited Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon whom he defeated in the Republican primaries, and who is black, to be his secretary of housing and urban development.
All three possible appointments are intriguing, perhaps Mrs Haley’s especially. She is a first-generation American—her parents migrated from the Indian state of Punjab in the 1960s—who converted from Sikhism to Christianity before her marriage, yet still occasionally attends gurdwara. Sparky, personable and, at the age of 44, an acknowledged Republican star, she could be the first Indian-American to hold a cabinet office. She is also a former opponent of Mr...Continue reading
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