Not having Bruce Reed at OMB is better, but choosing Neera Tanden is still not moving the Biden Cabinet left enough. Cecelia Rouse is a good choice for CEA chair, if only because the policy to recover the education sector will be important to avoid an oncoming national recession. The real problem will be if Biden does nominate a Republican who is actually a “never Trumper”.
During the 2020 elections, progressives often insisted that by maintaining critical support for Joe Biden and promoting his administration as open to their politics, they would be able to win “a seat at the table” with him and ultimately “pull him to the left.” Often, it is very hard to actually judge whether they actually make good on this plan, since assessments of “progressive” are completely subjective.
This time around, however, Data for Progress gave us a very clear way to evaluate this strategy: appointments. Earlier this year, DfP published their Progressive Cabinet Project, which proposed well over a hundred potential nominees to various positions in Joe Biden’s cabinet.
It’s no surprise that the U.S. cabinet has long been far too white, far too male, and far too wealthy. Progress has been made in this field in recent decades, with multiple women and people of color serving as Secretary of State, the most powerful cabinet office. This progress has been largely reversed in the past few years, however. In the Trump Administration, only two women hold cabinet office: Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao. Only one, Secretary of Education Ben Carson, is an African-American, and only one, Chao, is an immigrant. In addition to being disproportionately white and male, the members of Trump’s cabinet come from disproportionately wealthy backgrounds: The wealthiest cabinet in history,his administration has been nicknamed the “Gold-Plated cabinet” as a result. For a progressive administration to be able to truly tackle the underlying structural problems of American society, it is necessary that it is composed of individuals from all walks of life,which means including marginalized individuals in key positions. Lived experience matters,and appointing people from marginalized backgrounds to cabinet offices means it’s more likely that the needs of underserved communities receive attention from the federal government. Additionally, just as it’s important to appoint individuals from marginalized backgrounds to lead cabinet departments, it’s also crucial to diversify the personnel and staff of each department down to the Assistant Secretary level.
filesforprogress.org/...