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While there are still many vacancies to be filled, Biden’s Cabinet announcements so far fit a pattern: the former vice president has chosen people for high-level positions who have not sparked fighting bitter or prolonged with the left – without giving the progressives any major victory. None of Biden’s nods were completely irrelevant to the Democratic Party’s left flank. And the president-elect also selected leaders who, while moderate, have spent time building relationships with progressives.
“It could have been a lot worse,” said Rebecca Katz, a progressive strategist who advised Leftist Representative Jamaal Bowman’s new campaign, adding that things could still change. “He doesn’t choose any left-hander. He simply chooses people who have not alienated the left, who are listening.
Several progressive elected officials, assistants and activists have, in turn, been cautious Biden’s praise during the transition period and so far avoided serious battles with him. They pointed out, however, that the process was early and that things could certainly change, especially during confirmation hearings. Yet their posture towards Biden’s Cabinet selections So far stands out from the hopeless brawl between moderate and leftist Democrats in Congress that has raged since Election Day.
Progressives said that for many of Biden’s choices, there was a worse option that they were grateful they didn’t. In many of these cases, they pressured his team to prevent these people from entering.
For the Treasury, the fear was that it might go with Rhode Island housekeeper Gina Raimondo, a former venture capitalist who is not liked by unions because she cut pensions. For the Secretary of State, Blinken is seen on the left as preferable to moderate Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), A longtime ally of Biden. For his chief of staff, they implored Biden to pick his eventual pick, Ron Klain, who was instrumental in raising Biden’s outreach to progressives this year, over Steve Ricchetti, a former lobbyist.
“The progressives breathe a little sigh of relief because the wing of the party that Joe Biden comes from is not getting everything they want here,” said Waleed Shahid, spokesperson for Justice Democrats, who recruited the party. representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. go to Congress. “Meaning the third way, the conservative wing of the party.”
Progressive immigrant rights groups such as United We Dream have lukewarm welcome the appointment of Alejandro Mayorkas as head of homeland security, who, as the first Latino to potentially lead the department, could bring a “different tone. “.
But “Biden and Mr. Mayorkas were part of the team that unfortunately oversaw millions of deportations,” said Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream. “And we consider our role to be to empower everyone so that this does not happen again.”
Some even go beyond weak approval. Liberals closely aligned with the Warren wing of the progressive movement said there was plenty of reason to be happy in Biden’s early caps.
“The biggest turning point was actually the selection of Ron Klain, which we saw as extremely positive news,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Campaign Committee for Progressive Change. “This sent a wider signal that when there are several options on the table for Biden, and one of them is more acceptable to progressives, he will go in that direction, keeping the peace in the country.
Some progressives, however, criticize left-wing groups for going too far in applauding Biden’s safe choices.
“I don’t want to exaggerate. John Kerry is doing fine. [But] this need to pretend that these mixed-disc milquetoast nominees are great progressive heroes is pretty pathetic, ”said David Sirota, Sanders’ former speechwriter. “What I think we need right now are advocacy groups, activists and journalists to be honest about who these candidates are.
Part of Biden’s successful navigation so far seems to have come from his own strength in maintaining political connections and his decision to bring in staff with similar attributes. Biden comes to an agreement with Sanders and Warren, who have both sought high-level jobs in administration. Climate activists said Kerry worked well with them in the political task forces Biden formed with Sanders after the primary. Likewise, Matt Duss, Sanders’ foreign policy adviser, said Blinken was instrumental in the left’s attempt to end US support for the war in Yemen, which meant “a lot.”
“During the campaign, Tony and his team were keen to engage regularly with progressive groups as part of Biden’s larger effort to reach the left and unify the party,” Duss said. “There is no question that it helped them win, and continuing to do so now will help them rule.”
Progressives have said that another reason Biden likely opted for what they see as broadly acceptable choices – not only to themselves, but also to moderates and even some conservatives – is the narrow divide in Congress. Democrats hold a slim majority in the House and, at best, would face the same situation in the Senate if the party wins two second-round races in Georgia. This forces Biden to appeal more to the left, they said.
Liberal Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has said progressives won’t come out early when they see a lot of applause. On the one hand, he said, the people named, he said, understand the implications of climate change for national security. And Yellen, Schatz said, is “closer to a dream pick” than people think because the academia candidate represents a “big formal break” with “the idea that austerity helps economy as a whole ”.
Still, the left must “see the full pantheon of nominees before judging whether this team is sufficiently engaged in the types of change needed,” he said. At the same time, Democrats need to be “vigilant” against “the instinct-of-the-cabinet-is-bare,” Schatz said. Progressives will push Biden on this when scheduling a date, but he warned, “If we panic with our hair on fire about the little things, nobody is going to listen to us on the big things.
That’s not to say Biden hasn’t received any feedback from the progressives. The Sunrise movement, a group of young climate change activists, said it looked like a “betrayal” when Biden hired Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) As a senior advisor. Left-wing organization Demand Progress lists Ricchetti, whom Biden has empowered to be the White House’s liaison with Congress and corporate executives, as a “person of interest” on its website aimed at keeping “insiders” company ”outside the administration.
Moving forward, progressives focus primarily on excluding Democrats who favor an austere Biden team government. In recent days, progressive lawmakers and strategists have launched petitions and tweeted their opposition to some Obama-era reporting. For example, they try to keep former centrist Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and “deficit hawk” Bruce Reed away from Biden’s White House, especially in high-level positions such as transportation secretary and chief. of the management and budget office.
Progressives also oppose Mike Morell, who has championed drone strikes, for CIA director and BlackRock CEO Brian Deese for the National Economic Council. Jennifer Epps-Addison, chair of the Left Center for People’s Democracy, which endorsed Sanders in the primary, said Deese or Reed’s nominations “would feel like a bridge really far from bringing these different factions together within the party. “.
Likewise, said Schatz, an appointment of Reed “is worth watching,” but he didn’t want to “assume” that, because Reed was a key presence on a tax reform commission ridiculed by progressives under l ‘Former President Barack Obama,’ his opinions are locked in and that he’s going to work with Third Way and cut spending.
At the same time, the left is urging Biden to accompany Representative Deb Haaland (DN.M.), an ally of Warren, to the Home Secretary, and to closely monitor Biden’s appointments to the Justice Department. And the Campaign for Progressive Change committee is pushing Biden into lower-level government positions, providing a list of 400 progressives endorsed by some 40 leftists. groups to its transition team.
“It’s not as progressive as I would like, but it’s good news that Biden so far is also keeping conservative Democrats hostile to progressives, like Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed, on the sidelines,” said Bowman of Biden’s choices. The Cabinet process is just the start – it’s the people we need to work with, but also the people we’ll push. “
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