I thought this was something that Biden should be doing ….
Last week we where hearing questions about where was Joe Biden?
We also have Trump doing daily pressers not for virus updates but for political visibility…
I made the point here in comments here yesterday. ..
For several reasons Biden SHOULD moving on this..
He needs to nail down the fact he IS the nominee to Sanders and everyone else
He needs to have a Vice President picked to assure the party has two people locked into the nomination…
He needs to have a kitchen cabinet that can begin working on solutions way before the election and January…
He needs to project being a counter to Trump and the Republicans….
We also find out that Obama HAS been talking to Biden as he moves ahead….
Joe Biden disclosed Friday evening he has told his Democratic rival Bernie Sanders that he is moving forward with cabinet and vice presidential picks.
Biden told donors at a virtual fundraising event his campaign is to unveil a committee to vet potential vice presidential candidates “sometime in the middle of the month,” and said he has held discussions with others about potential cabinet positions.
“One of the things I learned a long time ago, and I really mean this, a good leader has to be willing to have people that are smarter than them, know more than they know about a subject, bring in people who in fact have an expertise you don’t have,” Biden said, according to a pool report.
“And so I am in the process and I actually had this discussion with Bernie. He’s a friend. We’re competitors. He’s a friend. I don’t want him to think I’m being presumptuous but you have to start now deciding who you’re going to have background checks done on as potential vice presidential candidates and it takes time,” Biden added.
It was the first time the former vice president has disclosed holding a private conversation with Sanders since the Democratic primary became a two-person race. Conversations have been happening at a staff level between the two camps.
Sanders has said recently he believes he still has a narrow path to the nomination, despite a significant delegate deficit against Biden.
In Friday’s remarks, Biden also disclosed he’s leaned on former President Barack Obama for advice on the process of cabinet picks….
Calling Sanders a “friend,” Biden said, “I don’t want him to think I’m being presumptuous” by choosing a running mate. But he added that the vice presidential vetting process “takes time,” so he has to begin this month.
Biden’s comments came in response to a question during a virtual fundraiser about whether he’d be willing to release his full proposed Cabinet at the same time he announces his vice presidential pick. Biden didn’t answer the question directly, but did indicate that there are a number of people who have been helping his campaign with whom he’s discussed whether they’d be “willing to come into a government if I get elected.”
He did, however, suggest he’s been thinking deeply about the makeup of his potential Cabinet. There are a number of “younger, really qualified people” Biden said he believes could be future leaders of the party if given more prominent roles. He also suggested he’d prioritize diversity in choosing his Cabinet secretaries, and he wants the lineup to “look like the country.”….
Update…
The campaign has not yet announced a search committee or any other details of the process other than promising a thorough vetting operation. But in the Tuesday interview with MSNBC’s Brian Williams, Mr. Biden said he hoped to have an operation to “run the background checks” in place by mid-April…
image…usatoday.com
This post comments will entertain guesses on the Biden choices….
I will start off with mine…
VP….Toss Up…Warren or Harris
Sec of State…?…Kerry, Sen’s Kaine or Murphy
Treasury…Warren
AG…Harris, Yates, Bharra
Council of Eco Affairs…Bloomberg
Nobody wants to make guesses on Biden’s VP and cabinet picks?
Probably Whitmer is the front-runner for running mate, but now is not the time.
Worrying about anyone’s Cabinet now is a waste of time. Don’t count any chickens before they hatch. There will be lots of time in November and December.
It may be worth looking over the potential merits and drawbacks of several prominent figures, but it’s utterly pointless and futile to try to fit a particular nameplate outside a particular door.
For one thing, we (but not the exploratory committees) don’t know many comparably-qualified candidates (e.g., who’s Secretary of Health in Michigan, California and Washington state, or Mayor of Seattle ?)
For another, while the U.S. doesn’t shuffle cabinets the way that the U.K. does (so any reasonably successful British politician would have served in (or been a shadow minister for), say, Health, Transport, the Treasury and the Foreign Office), anyone qualified enough to be considered for on U.S. Cabinet post might be just about as qualified to serve in several others (e.g., Elliot Richardson, Donald Regan, James A. Baker III, Henry Kissinger).
I disagree with you…
As with Obama after Bush II….
Biden IS gonna have to have things in place and ready to go the second he gets sworn in so their is NO lag…
Hints of his plans could help the economy…
Damn?
No on bites on this?
A plug for Harris for VP….
Kamala Harris has strong appeal among both moderates and progressives, which has no doubt contributed to her polling as the top VP choice. Moreover, as the only black female presidential contender, she represents arguably the most influential voting bloc for the Democratic party.
And with her proven track record and level-headedness, she makes a strong case to be a good president on day one – a consideration that will likely be a greater factor in the battle of the septuagenarians…
Michael Gordon, Opinion Columnist
A plug for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ….
… she has drawn praise from Biden, who is said to be considering her as a vice presidential pick, along with more prominent candidates like Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Stacey Abrams. “She made the list in my mind two months ago,” Biden recently told MSNBC’s Brian Williams….
MOLLY JONG-FAST
Joe Biden told James Cordon on The Late Late Show that he would name his advisory panel to help him select a running mate sometime next week. The panel will include “three or four people.”
Biden said the panel would interview the final contenders after the list has been narrowed down to “somewhere between two and five people.”
Politicalwire…