Value of experience
Biden’s diverse Cabinet picks are a promising step toward the competence U.S. badly needs.
As President-elect Joe Biden unveils his picks for top leadership positions, one thing is clear: His Cabinet is shaping up to be amarked contrast to his predecessor’s.
That’s a good thing. As the nation grapples with a deadly pandemic, a faltering economy and the threat of climate change, it is imperative that Biden staff his administration with people who are up to the task of confronting those converging crises — and can work to restore the country to its place on the world stage. Yes, each of them will need to be vetted and debated in the Senate, which will play an important role no matter which party is in control come January.
But for now, the nominees announced by the Biden transition team are a promising step toward the competence America needs, bringing decades of policy-making experience, a deep well of expertise, and a diversity that reflects America.
“It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat fromit,” Biden said at a announcement introducing the nominees. “Once again, sit at the head of the table, ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies. Ready to stand up for our values.”
In addition to their significant credentials and achievements in foreign policy, the nominees also represent some historic firsts — something Biden said reflects “the idea that we cannot meet these challenges with old thinking and unchanged habits.”
Alejandro Mayorkas, the son of Jewish Cuban refugees, would be the first Latino and first immigrant to head the Department of Homeland Security. Mayorkas, who served as deputy DHS secretary under former President Barack Obama, was one of the architects of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children to remain in the country.
Janet Yellen, nominated by Obama as the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, would be the first female treasury secretary. Avril Haines, former deputy director of the CIA under Obama, would be the first woman to be the director of national intelligence.
Biden will also nominate Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who is Black, to be ambassador to the United Nations, a post he plans to restore to Cabinetlevel status. That would give Thomas-Greenfield, a 35-year Foreign Service veteran who has served in posts around the world, a seat on the National Security Council.
What’s most remarkable about the flurry of firsts among Biden’s picks is how ordinary the picks seem, given the trend before Trump of presidents, regardless of party, increasing the number of women and people of color in top roles. An analysis in March 2017 of Trump’s initial appointments to his Cabinet showed the smallest number of women or people of color in those roles since Ronald Reagan.
Biden made waves in other ways this week, too. He named former Secretary of State John Kerry as a special envoy on climate change — a new position that doesn’t require Senate approval — and an encouraging sign that his administration will take seriously the threat posed to the planet.
“He’ll have a seat at every table around the world,” Biden said. “For the first time ever, there will be a principal on the National Security Council who can make sure climate change is on the agenda in the situation room.”
The choices represent a welcome shift from the Trump White House, which has often downplayed climate change and rejected science and where Cabinet members and appointees were often woefully mismatched and inexperienced for their jobs. Take, for example, the appointments of Betsy DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor who worked to dismantle public education, as secretary of education, and Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon with no experience in housing policy, as secretary of housing and urban development.
Other appointees badly backfired, too, from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who resigned amid a cloud of ethics investigations, to retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the National Security adviser Trump fired after 22 days and who was later indicted.
After nearly four years of a presidency that often favored chaos over competence and falsehoods over facts, the Biden appointments signal a much-needed return to normalcy and reliance on experience.
It’s too soon to know if the Biden administration will live up to its promises, but in these initial steps, the president-elect is showing good judgment. That, in itself, is a breath of fresh air.