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Outrage builds on the left over President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of longtime ally Hillary Clinton and passionate tweeter Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, will need Senate approval for the job, which could pose a problem for the Democrat even if his party wins a majority in the body.
If Democrats win both rounds of the Senate in Georgia, they will have split the house 50-50, with ties to be broken by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. This means Tanden can’t afford to lose a single vote on the Democratic side – a risk given his relationship with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
The difficult relationship between Sanders and Tanden dates back to the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, when Clinton’s ally was a prominent voice in the former secretary of state’s campaign.
WikiLeaks emails from this era revealed that she branded staff at progressive news site ThinkProgress as “crazy leftists.”
Tension between the two escalated in 2019, when Sanders sought out the 2020 Democratic nomination and Tanden led the CAP.
Sanders wrote a letter accusing the organization and Tanden of “slandering my staff and supporters and belittling progressive ideas” during the primary.
He also accused ThinkProgress, which is run as part of the CAP Action Fund, of falsely claiming in a video that he changed his rhetoric about millionaires after becoming one himself.
At the time, Tanden said ThinkProgress was “editorially independent”.
Shortly thereafter, their relationship strained further when The New York Times reported on an incident years earlier in which Tanden punched Faiz Shakir, who was leading Sanders’ 2020 presidential effort, “in the chest.”
The alleged incident took place in 2008, when she accompanied Clinton to what was supposed to be a softball interview with Shakir, then editor of the ThinkProgress website.
Shakir asked Clinton about his support for the Iraq war, which had been a source of controversy in his candidacy at the time. Tanden, according to the Times, turned to Shakir after the interview and punched him in the chest.
Tanden denied it was a punch when contacted by The Times, but admitted to being physically with him.
“I didn’t hit him, I pushed him,” Tanden said in a tone the newspaper described as “still angry”.
“I don’t personally know anyone in Bernie’s world who is happy with this choice. We’re talking about a woman who is known to have assaulted Bernie Sanders ‘campaign manager, ”Sanders’ 2020 campaign press secretary Briahna Joy Gray told Politico.
“It’s like putting Chelsea Clinton in the office. She is clearly not a friend of the Sanders wing of the Democratic Party, ”confirmed Kurt Ehrenberg, Sanders’ longtime former political strategist.
As part of the nomination process, Tanden will come face to face with Sanders, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, who will oversee his hearings.
A spokesperson for Sanders declined to comment to the Post how he plans to vote on Tanden’s nomination.
Biden’s transition team did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment on Tanden’s behavior or appointment.
On the right, Tanden also faces backlash.
The OMB candidate is a prolific tweeter. She has used the platform to issue explosive criticisms against lawmakers – as well as voters – who identify with her right and left.
The vocal Democrat appears to have deleted more than 1,000 tweets since November 1, after messages targeting lawmakers she will need for confirmation resurfaced.
The tweets, some deleted and others still online, refer to GOP lawmakers by name, tagging and criticizing them for supporting President Trump or, in some cases, attacking them personally.
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