What Kind of Veep Will Harris (Be Able) to Be?
Kamala Harris will be entering a White House and an administration full of long-time Biden aides, friends, and political partners. Joe Biden, for example, has known his Ag Secretary nominee, Tom Vilsack, since the 1980s. His inner circle of advisors also stretches back decades, and his ties to top (potential) cabinet secretaries - Janet Yellen, Lloyd Austin, Tony Blinken, and others - precede his and Harris’ relationship.
So, what will that mean for Kamala Harris as she carves out her role? And what has it meant for the transition up to this point? NBC News reports:
So far, those close to the transition say Harris has operated as a full partner to Biden. She has interviewed Cabinet nominees and offered her input on choices. During meetings, Biden has sought her input, and she has been involved in helping set the incoming administration's policy agenda, one transition official said.
Good, right? Let’s read on:
Past administration officials and those close to both Biden and Harris say those dynamics risk deteriorating once the pair enters the intense West Wing environment, where a vice president and her staff have to contend with competing interests throughout the administration.
Who knows what will happen - obviously, that risk does exist. And just as important as the relationship between the principals are the connections at the staff level. This may be the area that deserves greater focus. Again, from NBC:
Success is often found for a vice president through the office's staff, and allies warn that Harris is assembling a team that doesn't have strong relationships with Biden's top aides. Most of Harris' staff members are also new to her and hadn't worked with each other before the transition.
…
Unlike many of her predecessors, Harris won’t be entering the job with a close group of longtime advisers. She has been in Washington for less than four years and had a falling-out with many of the staffers from her failed presidential run, three people familiar with the matter said. Her closest aide coming to the White House will be her former Senate chief of staff Rohini Kosoglu, who began working for Harris in 2017 and will be the vice president's domestic policy adviser.
Add to that the political dimension that could cloud this relationship. Biden, due to his age, is a probable one-term president. Thus, some on his team are already wary of Harris putting her own political future above the administration’s priorities.
Still, though, we may be getting a little ahead of ourselves, and this may be a case of the media trying to stir the pot in what has been a relatively drama-free transition process (at least in terms of the dynamics within the Biden camp). In fact, the final two paragraphs of the article suggest just that:
A transition official said there have been no issues so far between the two staffs and that the tone set by the president-elect to treat Harris as a partner has trickled down throughout the incoming administration.
“There is an understanding that when Biden said he wants a simpatico governing partnership with his vice president, that he wants her fully at the table, there is an understanding fully across the board — from the Cabinet nominees to the transition staff to the incoming White House staff — that that is true,” a transition official said.
So where does that leave us? In the end, I think Biden’s team will take its lead from him. And he knows better than just about anyone in the world what it is like to be the VP and how to make the VP-POTUS relationship work. He is well aware of the risks posed by having chosen an ambitious partner who will most likely run for president again in the future, and if he were afraid of interference from Harris’ political planning, he wouldn’t have picked her. Along the same lines, if he thought she wouldn’t be a “simpatico” partner, he would have gone with someone else.
But Biden’s selection of Harris means he sees - and, implicitly, endorses - her not just as a governing partner but also as the future face of the Democratic Party. We don’t know exactly who she will be as Vice President, but if Biden maintains that level of confidence in her, then she should have all the support she needs to do her job.
And eventually, perhaps his.
What I’m reading
In Historic Move, Biden To Pick Native American Rep. Haaland As Interior Secretary | NPR
If confirmed by the Senate, Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, would be the country's first Native American Cabinet secretary. Fittingly, she'd do so as head of the agency responsible for not only managing the nation's public lands but also honoring its treaties with the Indigenous people from whom those lands were taken.
In a statement, the Biden-Harris transition team called Haaland a "barrier-breaking public servant who has spent her career fighting for families, including in Tribal Nations, rural communities, and communities of color," who will be "ready on day one to protect our environment and fight for a clean energy future."
In a tweet, Haaland acknowledged the unique "voice" she'll bring. "Growing up in my mother's Pueblo household made me fierce," she wrote. "I'll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land."
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"She understands at a very real level — at a generational level, in her case going back 30 generations — what it is to care for American lands," says Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities.
Haaland's nomination is a win for tribal governments, environmental groups and some progressive lawmakers who had been lobbying for the New Mexico lawmaker to lead the Department of the Interior. Her fellow House Natural Resources Committee member and rumored Interior candidate, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., wrote a letter to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus recommending Haaland for the post.
"It is well past time that an Indigenous person brings history full circle at the Department of Interior," he wrote.
This news was from the end of last week. Haaland to Interior is perhaps Biden’s most meaningful and historically significant nomination.
Disney’s Chairman Robert Iger Is Game for a New Job: U.S. Ambassador to China | WSJ
Walt Disney Co. executive chairman Robert Iger has told people close to the incoming Biden administration that he would be interested in serving as U.S. ambassador to China, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Iger, who served as Disney CEO for 15 years until being named executive chairman earlier this year, would be an unorthodox choice for a posting that typically goes to governors and senators. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized Disney’s business dealings in China or have questioned whether President-elect Joe Biden would be sufficiently tough on Beijing, so his possible appointment may draw political backlash.
Because of his history putting Disney’s commercial interests over human rights in China, Iger would absolutely not be a good choice.
Biden adds former Obama budget official, onetime Warren aide to economic team | NPR
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced more members of his White House economic policy team, bolstering its progressive credentials alongside National Economic Council Director Brian Deese.
David Kamin, who worked as a senior budget official under President Barack Obama, will be deputy NEC director, and Bharat Ramamurti, a former aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), will be deputy NEC director for financial reform and consumer protection.
“Working families are struggling through the deepest, most inequitable economic and jobs crisis in modern history,” Biden said in a statement. “This is no time to build back the way things were before — this is the moment to build a new American economy that works for all.”
He added that the appointees have “broad viewpoints on how to build a stronger and more inclusive middle class.”
These aren’t Senate-confirmed positions, so these people will be in the White House.