Biden’s Affirmative Action Picks?
There is a lot of talk inside the Washington beltway about how racially and ethnically diverse Joe Biden’s cabinet is shaping out to be, but is it really? My quest in this article is to take a deep dive into Joe Biden’s logic and rationale in his decision making when it comes to shaping his cabinet.
Well, his first high-profile pick was Sen. Kamala Harris for his Vice-President. All along I would tweet him — begging him — to pick her, and he did. I was excited, but let us remember how we got here. Biden was pigeonholed by the media to pick a woman, and then the black community went even further to force him to pick a woman of color.
Biden won the primary as a centrist, but he knew he needed the liberal base, but — more importantly — he needed the black women to come out and vote, but he also made a strong alliance with conservative republicans who were converted to voting for Biden by PAC’s like The Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump as a hedge in case he didn’t get support from liberals. Instead, Biden got a fragile coalition.
Those republicans that voted for him, in the end, voted all republican down ballot. All those polls that showed strong democratic wins were wrong…again. The power of Trump helped everyone except Trump himself…and you wonder why people think the election was rigged.
Biden didn’t win Texas, Florida, Ohio, Iowa like he was predicted to, and I think in some way he felt that Kamala was a drag on him. Conservatives painted Kamala out to be a flaming liberal, couple that with the conspiracy theory that Kamala is out to kill Joe so she can claim the presidency and we have a problem, Houston. Deep down, Biden thought that just by naming a black/Indian woman to the second highest office in the land would be enough to satisfy civil groups.
So, let’s dissect a few of his nominees
Linda Thomas-Greenfield is a career diplomat with over 35 years of experience in all matters that pertain to foreign policy. So, did Biden pick her for Secretary of State? No, she was tapped to be the US Ambassador to The United Nations. But hey, she’s black.
Neera Tanden was picked to be the Director of The Office of Management and Budget, and immediately after the media reported her name the republicans pounced saying that she will have a tough Senate Confirmation process because of her past “mean tweets”. Of all the picks by Biden, so far, Neera is the most liberal — even more liberal than that “radical” Kamala Harris. She is the CEO of the liberal think tank, American Progress. Of all his picks, this one makes no sense. She will not be confirmed by the Senate, but at least he can say he tried.
Xavier Bacerra has been nominated to be the Director of Health and Human Services, and this pick is just awful and degrading to the man. For those that don’t know, Xavier is the current Attorney General for The State of California and instead of tapping him to be the U.S. Attorney General, Biden has decided to appoint him to a cabinet position that would be better suited for someone with a medical degree and not a law degree, but Biden has justified his appointment in that Xavier has been a strong defender of “Obama Care” Hey, he’s Hispanic. Check that box off
Lloyd Austin is tapped to be the new Defense Secretary, and to me this is the saddest choice. It is sad, because — as a veteran — I love this guy. I have a heavy heart for Generals and Admirals in the military. I met Lloyd Austin many years ago when he was just a Lt. Colonel and he is truly a badass. In my opinion, he would make a great Secretary of Defense, but he would need a waiver in Congress to serve because he has been retired less than 7 years. Again, just like Neera Tanden, this nomination is going nowhere. If Biden truly cared about General Austin he could have put him in a non-Senate confirmed position until he met the 7 year threshold then he could have nominated him for Defense Secretary. To me, this is an affirmative action pick that degrades General Austin and makes Joe Biden look like a fool. Democrats are already not going along with this pick, and that means Republicans will not go for it either. It’s just hurtful to me as a veteran, and a disgrace. Biden is throwing him under the diversity bus weeks before the bus is set to arrive and Biden is making him wait for it while standing in the middle of the street.
Biden is still waiting to announce his pick for Attorney General, and people smarter than me are claiming that it will be the former Senator of Alabama (and close personal friend to Joe Biden) Doug Jones. To me, this makes sense. It is the reason why he has held out this long to announce. His tactic behind the Lloyd Austin pick was to silence the civil rights organizations so that he could pick Doug Jones.
You know, Trump has spent the past four years railing against the media, and I don’t really blame him. If he was right in one thing, “the media is the enemy of the people”.
The pandemic has taught me that members in the media are too busy selling their latest books. All I see are the pundits with their large bookshelves with their latest copies of the book they are selling up-front — in full display, and that is quite sad. People who are making $120,000 a MONTH feel the need to make a few thousand more while half the Country is starving.
I voted for Biden, and I want him to succeed, but in order for him to succeed we need everyone who is as passionate as I am to do our part. The Country is more divided than it has ever been, and nothing that Joe does will help. Trump and the media will continue to divide us, Trumpism will only get stronger, the people will get weaker, we will all get sicker and we all need to ask ourselves when is enough finally enough?
Biden has always stated that we should never question someone’s motive, and maybe it’s time that we should. Affirmative Action does not serve the people that it was designed to serve. It just makes us look like unqualified tokens to the same people that helped Trump get elected.