. Joe Biden has made a major selection to his cabinet pick for his incoming cabinet.
That I wholeheartedly, absolutely think is a disastrous choice.
And that is the choice of Neera Tanden to lead OMB, OMB as the Office of Management
and Budget.
That's a cabinet level position.
I believe this is by far Joe Biden's worst selection.
I like many of Joe Biden's picks.
Alejandro Mayorkas for the Department of Homeland Security secretary, super interesting.
A good pick, well qualified.
Janet Yellen for Treasury.
We've already talked about her.
I think that's a good pick.
There's a long list of good selections by Joe Biden and all qualified.
But Neera Tanden is a disastrous selection and is a sign of kowtowing to the worst of
the worst of the establishment Democratic Party cronyism that is off-putting and distasteful
and disgusting.
Neera Tanden is primarily known as a Hillary Clinton loyalist.
To put it put to put it plainly, a one of these Democratic elites that helped sink Bernie
back in twenty sixteen.
She's proposed cutting Social Security in the past.
Back in 2010, Neera Tanden was involved in a Center for American Progress, which is the
organization.
She ran a proposal to cut Social Security.
But not only do I think this is a bad pick because it is exactly the type of Democratic
Party cronyism that the party should be getting away from.
I also think this is a bad pick because it's controversial on both sides, with many Republicans
thinking that Neera Tanden is just bonkers and progressives thinking she's a true centrist
establishment shill that is the epitome of the problem of the Democratic Party.
So you've got the Berney left furious because they see this as just a smack in the face.
Her organization regularly going after Bernie, as I already mentioned.
But you've also got right wingers who think Neera Tanden is nuts.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham calling Neera Tanden a, quote, nutjob.
And I don't really care what crazy Republicans think about Joe Biden's picks, except that
they will have the ability to create real obstacles for confirmation.
And it will be a battle for Joe Biden to get someone confirmed that much of the left doesn't
like either.
Lindsey Graham saying, quote, If you want to make sure this nutjob Tandan doesn't become
the director of the budget in charge of OMB, then make sure we win Georgia.
So Republicans using this to try to win those races in Georgia, they may create obstacles
and it'll be a confirmation battle.
The progressive wing of the Democratic Party is disgusted and Republicans have already
signaled that they could block confirmation of Neera Tanden.
The left and right both have problems.
This is definitely not in keeping, by the way, with Joe Biden's Unite the Country theme
unless he means unite the country against Neera Tanden.
I see no gain from this.
Politically, I see no benefit from.
This for a Biden administration, just in terms of the day to day now, much of the case being
made for Neera Tanden is an identity case.
She grew up in Section eight housing and now she's going to run the national budget.
OK, but she could run it in a good way or a bad way.
The fact that she grew up in Section eight housing doesn't tell us whether she's a good
or bad pick.
She's the first Indian American in this position.
OK, but is she the right person for it?
And as I've said before, identity can be enlightening and informative if the person is otherwise
qualified.
Kamala Harris is a very well qualified person to be vice president.
She could be president on day one if it were necessary.
And it's very interesting and inspiring that she will be the first female president or
vice president ever in history.
That's really interesting.
That's inspiring.
That's relevant.
But if she were unqualified, being a woman wouldn't be a reason to put her in that position.
And in seeing many of the defenses of Neera Tanden, so far, I'm seeing experience and
connections mentioned, which means she's an insider, OK?
And I'm seeing identity stories which by themselves don't do too much for me.
Now, in the meantime, Neera Tanden has been on a tweet delete rampage, deleting about
800 tweets, many of them critical of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
So to be clear, I can be against this selection and be in favor of others.
Yesterday on a livestream I mentioned I don't at all like the selection of Neera Tanden.
And I started getting emails and messages from people saying, David, why are you attacking
Joe Biden?
This is not the time to attack Biden.
Listen, Biden won and he's going to be president if saying I think Neera Tanden is a bad pick
while lots of other picks are good.
And if that counts as attacking Joe Biden, we're going to have a long four years ahead
of us, my friends.
But I think most of the audience understands I can dislike this election and like others
and still believe that voting for Joe Biden over Donald Trump was the right choice.
As I did.
And as I continue to believe.
Let me know your thoughts.
What am I missing?
Am I misguided in my criticism of Neera Tanden?
Let me know.