Liberals turned out for Joe Biden this year in greater numbers than they did for Hillary Clinton not because, in the words of New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, he is “their favorite person” but in order to have influence in the White House again. “Our first task [is that] we’ve got to defeat the worst president in modern history in this country, and No. 2, we organize our people to make sure that Biden becomes the most progressive president since FDR,” said Bernie Sanders, the man Biden bested for the Democratic nomination and a top Ocasio-Cortez ally.

If personnel is policy, as the saying in Washington goes, the most doctrinaire progressives in the Democratic Party have to be getting a little concerned. While no one would confuse Biden’s incoming administration with President Trump’s, centrist and establishment Democrats have taken the lion’s share of the announced Cabinet and White House staff positions. And while it is still early, the Ocasio-Cortez/Sanders wing of the party has so far been shut out of the major policymaking roles.