Aamer Madhani has this for Associated Press on why you may be getting a sense of deja vu as you look at president-elect Joe Biden’s picks for his administration – because he’s getting the old gang back together.
The incoming Biden administration has a distinctly Obama feel about it already. There’s Denis McDonough, former Obama chief of staff who Biden announced on Thursday would be nominated as the secretary of veterans affairs. Susan Rice, Obama’s former national security adviser, was named the director of Biden’s White House Domestic Policy Council.
That’s on top of Biden already tapping Obama’s agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, to head the department once again, former Secretary of State John Kerry to serve as special envoy on climate and Kerry’s Obama-era deputy Antony Blinken to lead the State Department. Jeff Zients, who did stints as acting Office of Management and Budget director and a top economic adviser in the Obama White House, will return as Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator.
Biden, assuming the presidency in the midst of the worst public health crisis in a century and facing a flagging economy, is putting a great premium on past experience and, as a result, has gone frequently back to the Obama well as he fills out his government.
“Many of the folks who are returning are returning because they believe in public service and know that after four turbulent and destructive years and a brutal pandemic, this is a particularly important time to serve,” said David Axelrod, who served as a senior adviser to Obama. “Their experience is valuable. Their values and outlooks are consonant with (Biden’s). The challenge is to look forward and not back and innovate beyond what’s simply been broken.”
The reliance on Obama veterans carries risks. Some of the nominee are still distrusted by some Republicans. And Progressive Democrats view the Obama era with frustration, believing that those in power acted too cautiously at a time that called for bold change.
With a thinned majority in the House and a closely divided Senate, leaning on former Obama world aides to fill senior White House positions will be a necessity for Biden world for at least the first two years of his term, said University of Chicago political scientist William Howell.
“If you’re a liberal looking for sweeping change, you’re going to be disappointed, both in terms of its politics and the ambition of his agenda,” Howell said. “The Cabinet he’s putting together is consistent of both the hand he’s been dealt and moderate position that delivered him the nomination.”
