More on the incoming line up for President-Elect….
It’s the new guessing game …..
And it’s getting tricker….
Lot’s of people are stakeholders that expect something back for their help in getting Biden and Harris over the finish line…
Not everyone will get what they want….
But the Biden admin will have thousand of jobs spots to fill….
There are leading candidates and dark horses. There are potential roadblocks from progressives and conservatives. And there are competing factions hoping to be part of the next president’s inner circle, all jockeying for influence.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. moved quickly this past week to name the first two members of his cabinet, picking one of his closest confidants to be the nation’s top diplomat and choosing an immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security for the first time.
But as he fills out the rest of his team in the days and weeks ahead, the task will become more complicated, forcing him to navigate tricky currents of ideology, gender, racial identity, party affiliation, friendship, competence, personal background and past employment.
Aides to Mr. Biden who are managing the selection process are revealing little about whom he intends to choose. And yet, as is typical in Washington in the early days of a transition, the names of those the president-elect is said to be considering are a frequent source of discussion. This time, the gossip is spreading via Zoom calls, Twitter posts and encrypted text messages sent by lawmakers, lobbyists and political consultants.
“I can assure you, there will be more cabinet announcements in the weeks ahead, so buckle up for December,” Jennifer Psaki, a senior transition adviser, told reporters this past week.
Whom Mr. Biden will tap to be the next attorney general is among the most talked about — and politically fraught — decisions that the president-elect will make as civil rights issues roil the country and some Democrats expect investigations into President Trump and his associates…..
From FiveThirtyEight….
As expected, Biden is appointing very traditional people, in the mode of most other presidents — except for Biden’s immediate predecessor, of course. President Trump initially picked a chief of staff (Reince Priebus) and secretary of state (Rex Tillerson) with no prior experience in the federal government and two top White House advisers (Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller) whose views were fairly outside of the elite GOP mainstream. It is unlikely that a President Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio would have named any of those four to those posts….
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Biden’s staff is heavy on people who have held similar jobs in the past and were in line for senior posts if Hillary Clinton had won in 2016. Biden’s pick for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, for example, was deputy secretary of state under President Barack Obama. Avril Haines, who will be Biden’s director of national intelligence, was the deputy director of the CIA and then deputy national security adviser under Obama. Nearly every person Biden has named to a very senior role was in a top post in the Obama administration. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Biden will wind up carrying out what amounts to Obama’s third term (although that might end up being true). Rather, Biden is naming the most traditionally qualified people for these jobs, as previous presidents have done. President George W. Bush’s first defense secretary (Donald Rumsfeld) and secretary of state (Colin Powell) had held top jobs in previous GOP administrations. Obama’s first chief of staff (Rahm Emanuel) had been a top aide to President Bill Clinton, and Obama’s first attorney general (Eric Holder) had been deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration….
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Biden might need some GOP votes to get his Cabinet picks confirmed in the U.S. Senate, so he’s trying not to antagonize Republicans too much either….
Washington Post…
So far, the former vice president’s Cabinet and Cabinet-rank nomineesinclude Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris — the first woman to ever hold the position — as well as a Black woman, a Latino immigrant, a Jewish American and other picks from underrepresented groups in American leadership. And the list of potential candidates for the remaining positions appears more diverse than any in history.
“When Joe asked me to be his running mate, he told me about his commitment to making sure we selected a Cabinet that looks like America — that reflects the very best of our nation,” Harris said Tuesday during an announcement of some Cabinet nominees. “That is what we have done.”
image…Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times
Reports are that Biden may reveal Justice and Defense picks as early as this week…..
I would have thought he’d wait for the Georgia Senate results ….
But the choices now must are aimed at Senate confirmation one would think ….
Yates was the Justice favorite
Flournoy was the Defense favorite
Of course there IS a push for minorities going on….
For Defense Black’s in the runnin are Gen Loyd Austin and Former Obama Homeland head Jeb Johnson…
Johnson has also be mentioned for AG…
Some have mentioned Alabama Senate Doug Jones , but seems like REAL long shot…
Leaks should be forthcoming ….
Post later but the leak for Defense had General Austin being the pick….
Good political move….
First Black DefSec pick should be a lock thru the Senate no matter who is majority…
Flournoy attracted too many doubts with her history of working with Defense community….
Some will complain about having a solider lead the Pentagon….
But the minority angle outways that….
Justice leak should be out soon…
Yates?
Johnson is probably out ….
I’ll have that Austin post later …
Jeb Johnson maybe gone from contention like Susan Rice….
For Justice Hmmmm?
Getting confirmed and not pissing off too many progressives IS part of getting picked …
Remember ….
Few cabinet people last a whole Presiden’t term….
on second thought?
AG. pick might be a no name like most of the national security people …..
Confirmation jitters for Biden..,
The former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel seems to be in line for a high powered US Ambassadorship….
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel appears poised to take on a high-profile ambassadorship for President Biden, a step likely to trigger contention with progressives who’ve balked at him taking a Cabinet role.
Emanuel is the front-runner to be Biden’s nominee as ambassador to Japan, sources familiar with the matter told The Hill.
He’s also being considered for the post in China, but sources said Japan is the more likely landing spot for former President Obama’s chief of staff. Former State Department official Nicholas Burns is the likely front-runner to end up in Beijing….
More…
(Whoever is picked to go to China better have their shit together…That IS gonna be a tough job…)
Miracles DO happen in politics in the US Congress…..
Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose nomination to become ambassador to Japan has angered liberal activists, has clinched the votes of at least three Republican senators, giving him an important buffer against possible Democratic defections and boosting his chances of winning confirmation in the evenly divided Senate….
More…