Together, they represent the fulfillment of a promise – going back to the early days of the primaries – that Biden would prioritize government expertise and experience immersed in the Democratic Party’s moderate tendency. But he was also criticized, mainly by the left, for turning a blind eye to the challenges he will face in bringing Republicans to the table and not expanding his inner circle.
“Typically, a new government tries to measure its success and plan its achievements for the first hundred days. But this is a team that lacks that kind of luxury,” said New Jersey deputy Andy Kim, a former civil servant who worked at the Pentagon and the State Department. “This is a team that needs to be deployed not for a hundred days, but for a hundred hours.”
“What gives me comfort,” said Kim, amid uncertainty about the cooperation of government officials, “is knowing that this team from Biden already knows how to govern, that this is a team that has been tested.”
Breaking the inner circle
But some of the choices that Kim says are helping him “sleep better at night” have also angered Democrats, who hoped Biden would have a wider network. Biden said he wants to be a “bridge” for a new generation of leaders. But many of those closest to him, especially in high positions in the White House, are loyal or graying operative members of the party.
Tuesday’s announcement that Bruce Reed, Biden’s chief of staff as vice president, will be his deputy chief of staff next year underscored the president-elect’s desire to surround himself with longtime allies – even if they irritate some in the party. Progressive leaders have spent weeks arguing that Reed, a centrist who worked on the crime bill and the 1994 social security reform during his time at Bill Clinton’s White House, should be excluded.
Progressives vying to incorporate leaders from their own ranks widely praised the campaign and the transition for being accessible, but found that convincing Biden to step out of his comfort zone could be the biggest obstacle to be overcome.
“The real challenge,” said Julian Brave NoiseCat, vice president of policy and strategy at Data for Progress, “is to learn more about who is in the inner circle – and how to take into account people who are not in the inner circle.”
Monday’s additions by a former aide to Senator Elizabeth Warren, Bharat Ramamurti, as deputy director of the National Economic Council for Financial Reform and Consumer Protection, and Joelle Gamble, chosen to be the president’s special assistant for economic policy, for Biden’s National Economic Council it was a great victory for liberals. And the same announcement that included Reed also named Gautam Raghavan, chief of staff to the president of Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, before joining the transition, as deputy director of the Presidential Personnel Office.
But the big government tent is still centered in the center, creating a list so far that mainly reflects the president-elect’s policy while seeking to fulfill his promise to form a team that “looks like America”.
Liberals vow not to repeat old mistakes
Biden’s transition was unique because of the intense scrutiny he received from a wide variety of interest groups and movement leaders.
It is the first democratic cabinet filling process to take place in the age of social media. Those who lead the attack on the left are also more informed and optimistic about the powers of the presidency and agency leaders than they did more than a decade ago, when Obama took office.
“The Revolving Door Project is an explicit response to what I saw as failures of the progressives in 2008 and 2009, but even more generally throughout the Obama era to be fully involved in the importance of the executive branch,” said Jeff Hauser of founder and director watchdog group. “Especially the transition, but throughout.”
But Hauser, whose criticisms of nominees and possible choices about his business ties allegedly angered some around Biden, is more of an idiot – to pressure Democrats to aggressively pursue his agenda by all available means – than a rebellious arsonist.
“I understand that in the midst of all these crises, there is a trend towards specialization,” said Hauser. “Biden thinks he has a mandate based on how he positioned himself in the primaries. And therefore, whether or not exactly what I would do, I can respect that as a base.”
The questions going forward, he added, are unlikely to be answered in headlines and nominations for big bureaucracies, but they fall into the hierarchy as Biden, his team and senior management leaders begin to fill the team’s undersecretary, undersecretary and job head – all opportunities to bring less experienced but accomplished people out of the hustle and bustle of Washington, DC.
Melissa Byrne, a former aide to Senator Bernie Sanders who spent time in Obama’s first campaign and volunteered for a period in her transition, argued that empowering people with origins in the movement would benefit the White House during the inevitable conflicts with hardline Republicans.
His concerns speak of broader anxieties among Democrats, who fear that Biden’s orbit may be overestimating his ability to forge negotiations in good faith with a radicalized Republican Party and loyal to Trump.
“You need people who don’t waver when things get really tough. Because it’s going to be very difficult. I don’t know if people are really prepared for what the Trumpers are going to do in the next four years,” Byrne said. “It will make the Tea Party look like Obama’s best friend.”
The promise of Biden’s campaign, in the primaries and in the general election confrontation with Trump, also weighs on post-campaign decision making. His mandate is vast and complicated and can – when he takes office and start promoting his agenda – create conflicting imperatives.
The biggest challenge ahead, said Nina Smith, a former campaign adviser for Buttigieg, will simply be “politics”.
“Biden is presenting himself as a healer and healers have to deal with wounds and scars. And this is a country that has been deeply wounded and healed,” said Smith. “So the politics of everything, from the policies he follows, to whoever comes to different meetings, to whoever he hires to implement his agenda – it’s all on the table.”