President-elect Joe Biden and far-left figures in the Democratic coalition aren’t on the same page when it comes to high-level appointments for his incoming administration.
It’s a not-unexpected source of tension. But it largely stayed private after Biden clinched the Democratic nomination against the likes of Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the latter a socialist and avatar of the party’s furthest-left fringes. Biden was President Barack Obama’s vice president for two terms and before that a 36-year Delaware senator, consistently in the middle of the Democratic Party ideologically but hardly a fire-breathing political revolutionary.
Now differences over policy — and by extension personnel — are going public after Biden defeated President Trump, a victory effectively made official Monday by General Services Administrator Emily Murphy’s belated decision to allow a transition to begin between the outgoing and soon-arriving administrations.
Biden’s choice for secretary of state, longtime aide and former President Barack Obama’s deputy secretary of state Tony Blinken, was first on the Left’s list.
Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who never endorsed Biden over Sanders, was Blinken’s most vocal critic, pouncing on his approach to Israel.
“So long as he doesn’t suppress my First Amendment right to speak out against Netanyahu’s racist and inhumane policies. The Palestinian people deserve equality and justice,” she tweeted in response to another Sanders backer’s approval.
Tlaib then criticized outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s opposition to the so-called “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” effort, which aims for the end of Israel as an independent, Jewish state. Tlaib, an Israel opponent, described BDS as “a peaceful protest movement” protected by free speech.
“I hope that Mr. Blinken and President-Elect Biden’s Administration will change course from Trump’s State Department & not target or suppress support of Palestinian human rights,” she added.
In 2018, the Palestinian American and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar became the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. And last year, Tlaib and Omar were banned from Israel over their anti-Israel rhetoric. The decision was later reversed, but the pair canceled their trip.
Republican strategist Cesar Conda, a former top adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, wasn’t surprised by the push back.
“Biden’s foreign policy picks are generally pro-Israel, so it’s no surprise that Tlaib and ‘the Squad’ would be upset,” he told the Washington Examiner.
But while Biden’s safe, centrist team may frustrate some far-left Democrats, Conda argued there was a procedural advantage to the line-up.
“Having pro-Israel views probably helps his nominees get confirmed quickly by a Republican-controlled Senate,” he said.
Blinken, who is Jewish and the stepson of a Holocaust survivor, was widely lauded by his prospective Israeli counterparts as rumors swirled he’d be Biden’s top diplomat. And as a campaign adviser, he’s on the record regarding Biden’s stance against conditioning military assistance to Israel on no further annexation of the West Bank, unlike several of Biden’s primary opponents.
Blinken was part of Biden’s broader national security and foreign affairs roll out on Monday morning.
Biden transition officials had hinted at post-Thanksgiving announcements but were mounting public pressure on GSA Administrator Murphy.
Murphy, a Trump appointee, had declined to acknowledge Biden as the likely president-elect. And the Biden camp’s complaints had been growing louder, arguing her inaction was threatening national security and the country’s COVID-19 response. Murphy signed the paperwork Monday afternoon.
On Monday, Biden also revealed he would nominate Alejandro Mayorkas to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Linda Thomas-Greenfield as his United Nations ambassador, and Avril Haines as his chief spy. He named Jake Sullivan as his national security adviser and John Kerry as the first special presidential envoy for climate to sit on the National Security Council as well. Neither role requires Senate confirmation.
Kerry’s announcement seemed to, at least temporarily, distract Biden’s harshest critics.
Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas said Kerry’s new post demonstrated “the urgency of taking bold, global action on the climate crisis.” But she urged Biden to pick “a domestically-focused Climate Czar who directly reports to the President and will oversee an Office of Climate Mobilization agreed to in the Biden-Sanders task forces.”
They appeared to be placated, too, by speculation Biden will appoint former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen as the country’s first treasury secretary.
“Among those not named Elizabeth Warren, Janet Yellen is high up on the list of people favored by progressives and people across the Democratic Party,” Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green said. “Janet Yellen has absolutely shown a willingness to challenge corporate power and not be intimidated by big banks. That is a key ingredient as we rebuild our economy.”
But future Biden national security nominations still torment more liberal Democrats.
Blinken and Haines’s selection, for instance, has prompted concerns Michele Flournoy will be chosen as Biden’s defense secretary. In 2018, Blinken and Flournoy co-founded WestExec Advisors, a boutique strategic consultancy firm. Haines was a principal at the advisory shop.
California Rep. Ro Khanna, who was national co-chairman of Sanders’s presidential bid, underscored Flournoy’s endorsement of the Iraq and Libya conflicts, criticism of Obama’s Syria positions, and work on the 2009 Afghanistan troop surge.
“I want to support the President’s picks. But will Flournoy now commit to a full withdrawal from Afghanistan & a ban on arms sales to the Saudis to end the Yemen war?” the Congressional Progressive Caucus member tweeted.
Mindful of the delicate balance, Biden transition spokeswoman Jen Psaki implored liberals this past weekend to be patient.
“President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris were elected by a coalition of people across the country that includes people who are progressive and moderate and Republican,” she told CNN. He wants to have a range of views of people at the table. So, I would encourage people to wait to see who he announces and nominates in the weeks to come.”
