BIDEN’S APPOINTMENTS ARE DEEPLY REASSURING

President-elect Joe Biden’s experienced choices for key posts in his administration are reassuring indicators of his intent to have a cohesive, focused leadership team that avoids infighting and drama.

Biden’s choice of former Fed Chair Janet Yellen to be the first woman treasury secretary in 231 years is smart. As Fed chair and as chair of the White House

Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill

Clinton, Yellen built a reputation as a centrist technocrat with a superb grasp of how government can affect the economy. Importantly now, she was also an early voice on the dangers of income inequality.

Biden’s shrewd start included tapping talented

Obama veterans Alejandro Mayorkas to be the first

Latino secretary of homeland security, Avril Haines to be the first woman director of national intelligence and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a Black woman, to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The choice of Biden and Obama foreign-policy adviser Antony Blinken as secretary of state merits a more mixed reaction. Some U.S. allies blame the

Obama administration’s hands-off approach to the

Syrian civil war for the subsequent massive refugee crisis in Europe. But Blinken has deep ties worldwide and vows to repair the relationships shredded by Trump, vital work for the next top U.S. diplomat.

A recalcitrant Republican-controlled Senate may make it hard for Biden to surround himself with everyone he wants, and no president keeps the same

Cabinet for four years. But Biden’s first picks show he is listening to Americans who say they want to see a steady, seasoned, diverse group of advisers.