Biden’s cabinet is built for comfort, not speed

The late great Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) could have been talking about Donald Trump and Joe Biden when he said, “Any jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.” 

Biden’s experience has made him a competent carpenter, but he will need to prove he can be an ambitious architect to solve the grave problems facing his presidency and the nation.

The president-elect has carefully and cautiously constructed his cabinet to meet competing political demands. He must do a high wire act and walk a tightrope between progressives in his own party who want change and the conservatives in the GOP who control the Senate and must approve his choices.

The choice of his Treasury secretary is a good example of Biden’s approach. Progressives didn’t get the pick they loved, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), but they did get someone they liked in Janet Yellen who has demonstrated concerns about income inequality and climate change. She will probably pass muster in the Senate. The new nominee served as the head of the Council of Economic Advisers during Bill Clinton’s presidency and President Barack Obama named her the first female chair of the Federal Reserve Board.

Demography is destiny and the destiny of the Democratic Party is diversity. The default option in cabinet choices has always been white men, so the new president deserves a lot of credit for his efforts to pick an administration that is diverse.

Biden has already chosen three members of the big four cabinet positions, State, Defense and Treasury. Only one of the three nominees, secretary of State, Tony Blinken is a white male. Yellen will be the first female secretary of Treasury and retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin will be the first African American Defense chief if they are approved by the Senate.

Biden has nominated two Latinos, Xavier Becerra and Alejandro Mayorkas to run the Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security. The choice of a Hispanic immigrant to helm Homeland Security and to ride point on immigration policy is particularly appropriate and it must annoy Trump supporters to distraction.

The 46th president has worked closely with most of his appointees to key White House staff positions and cabinet positions while he was a senator and Obama’s vice president. Trump picked some people he barely knew and we know how that worked out for him. There will be much more stability in Biden’s cabinet than there was in his predecessor’s and there’s something to be said for that.

But Biden is building his cabinet for comfort, not speed at a time when urgency is necessary to confront severe threats to America. A cabinet in his comfort zone isn’t enough to satisfy progressives who helped elect him or be up to the job of addressing the big problems facing the U.S.

Which brings us to the story of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio). Biden’s choice to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development points to his caution. Fudge, a former mayor, is perfectly suited to run the agency that deals with urban problems.

She’s also an African American woman and is the chair of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition and Oversight. Progressive supporters hoped Biden would designate her as his secretary of Agriculture, which would have put her in charge of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and change the department from a farmer-oriented agency into a consumer-friendly institution.

Traditionally, the Agriculture job goes to a farm state official. But Biden could have broken new ground and given Fudge the top job. Instead, he chose tradition over vision and gave the job to former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. He ran the Department Of Agriculture (DOA) for eight years under former Obama and then-Vice President Biden.

Tough times require bold actions. The new president must find a way of breaking through the institutional barriers that limit his options.

We will find out next month after the Georgia runoff elections whether Democrats or Republicans organize the Senate. But one way or another, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be a thorn in Biden’s side when it comes to cabinet appointments and major legislation.

The threat that the Senate majority leader poses to the new administration is clear from his resistance to measures to give aid to beleaguered Americans who have lost their jobs, local and state governments that don’t have the money to aid their suffering citizens and first responders who are at the end of ropes fighting the escalating pandemic.