I don't have anything like exhaustive familiarity with the backgrounds and positions of most of these people, but after doing some research, I tend to concur with the view I'm seeing from a spectrum of folks that they look like what one would expect for Biden Cabinet picks. It's clear he and his team of advisors are being driven to a considerable degree by diversity. That's what a Democrat administration in 2020 / 2021 is going to prioritize. Most of them seem to be serious people with impressive credentials. From what I can tell, they're not wild-eyed radicals.
Anthony Blinken comes across as earnest. He says he's going to put humility among the foremost values driving his work if he's confirmed as secretary of state. I get the sense he wants to see the US be a consensus-builder and facilitator on the world stage, which is fine as far as it goes - in fact, a refreshing change from the bull-in-a-china-shop "American First" stance of the era now concluding. Let's see how it's fleshed out in such matters as alliances and shoring up a sense of the West as a crucial player among the world's spheres of influence. There's also the unsettling matter of the Biden administration serving notice that the global climate is going to be a top priority. More about that later.
Janet Yellen is a Keynesian and I think she tends to look at economic matters through a largely macro lens, but from what I can tell she's regarded as pretty level-headed. She ought to make an interesting treasury secretary. Hey, Elizabeth Warren didn't get the gig, which brings a sigh of relief.
Alejandro Mayorkas has an impressive resume. He has some experience in dealing with cyber-crime. I can't find much that would indicate where he stands on terrorism or the military machinations of America's enemies, which are key areas of focus for a Homeland Security secretary.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield likewise doesn't have the kind of trail of demonstrations of outspokenness on the kinds of matters that come before either the UN Security Council of General Assembly. Will she be a dig-in-your-heels-and-demand-Western-principles-get-defended firebrand like Jeane Kirkpatrick, John Bolton and Nikki Haley? I wouldn't bet on it. I think she's more of a bureaucrat who will fit well with Blinken's style.
Avril Haines, the DNI Director-designate, is an interesting figure. In 1992, she dropped out of a doctoral program at Johns Hopkins to join her husband in purchasing a Baltimore bar that had been seized in a drug raid. They turned it into a cafe-bookstore, which held, among other things, erotica reading nights. She later went back to academia and got a Georgetown law degree. In 2018, she ardently supported Trump's pick of Gina Haspel to be CIA director, praising her credentials forthrightly.
And then there's John Kerry, who is going to be climate czar. I guess in a Dem cabinet, you have to have one hardcore leftist. Stop rolling your eyes. We all remember his leadership of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and the way he lied about he US committing atrocities in a congressional hearing. He went to Nicaragua as a first-term Senator in the 1980s and met with Daniel Ortega to tell him that not all elements of the US government were on the same page with that awful Ronald Reagan. He's called Israel an apartheid state. As Secretary of State, he and Wendy Sherman allowed themselves to be humiliated and yelled at by Iranian foreign minister Zarif during the interminable negotiations that led to that shameful piece of appeasement with one of the West's most threatening enemies, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. And, of course, he thinks the global climate is in some kind of trouble that requires humankind to urgently put the brakes on its advancement, and that is the area that is going to be his portfolio on this cabinet.
So there are no real surprises here. Much to follow and observe with an open mind, and some things to oppose right off the bat.
One thing we can say for sure is that it will be a whole different ballgame from what we've seen under the Very Stable Genius.
No comments:
Post a Comment