Biden’s Cabinet: The Scorecard So Far

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As Prospect readers know, we’ve worked since March to shed light on appointments to be avoided as well as good ones worth supporting. Progressives have done better than many of us feared, for three reasons.

One is the sheer power and strategic coherence of the progressive movement, and its influence on the process.

The second reflects Joe Biden’s admirable quest for diversity. The Black, female, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American officials whom he appointed are not just diverse but progressive. The centrists are the white guys.

The third is that events—the pandemic, the recession—have conspired to press Biden to be a bolder president than he anticipated.

On the energy and climate front, which also connects to green investment, progressives won a clean sweep: Debra Haaland at Interior, Jennifer Granholm at Energy, Michael Regan at EPA. And for education secretary, Biden has named a terrific former schoolteacher and progressive state education chief, Miguel Cardona.

Financial appointments have been better than anticipated, with Janet Yellen running Treasury, and Bharat Ramamurti as deputy director of the National Economic Council in charge of financial regulation and consumer protection. Brian Deese, who heads the council, is the best of the ones who were seriously considered.

As U.S. trade rep, Katherine Tai rejects the corporate trade consensus. And the Council of Economic Advisers is a progressive clean sweep.

At OMB, Biden’s choice is Neera Tanden of the Center for American Progress, a center-left figure close to Hillary Clinton. She may well not get confirmed because of personal animus on the part of key Republican senators, and the backup is likely to be Gene Sperling, among the most pro–public investment of the Biden team.

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We lost a few, but only a few. Bruce Reed, one of the Terrible Twelve flagged in the Prospect’s Biden Do Not Reappoint list, has been named as deputy chief of staff. It could have been worse. Reed could have been chief of staff or head of OMB. And Tom Vilsack, the epitome of a corporate ag Democrat, should not have been made secretary of agriculture.

Still to come are the secretaries of commerce and labor, and attorney general, as well as heads of key regulatory agencies. For some reason, Team Biden is enamored of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a former venture capitalist strongly opposed by the labor movement and progressives generally. She’s said to be front-runner for Commerce, but the delay suggests a lot of internal contention.

At least four good people are in the running for labor secretary. Biden himself has just said he is still considering several possibilities for AG.

Given that Joe Biden, and not Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, won this election, it’s not a bad lot. Of course, the policies that ensue will require the same relentless scrutiny and activism by the progressive community that helped produce this decent Cabinet.

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