Update, Dec. 17:
The Washington Post reports that President-elect Joe Biden will choose Michael S. Regan as the next Environmental Protection Agency administrator. He would be the first African American to run the EPA.
In what perhaps is one of the most popular selections, Dr. Anthony Fauci will be Chief Medical Adviser on COVID-19 to the President
And…just now: Biden has picked Rep. Deb Haaland to be first Native American interior secretary
UPDATE:
In announcing his latest cabinet nomination – that of Pete Buttigieg to Transportation – President-elect Joe Biden rightly elaborated on his diverse cabinet and “all of the firsts it represents.”
Some of his remarks:
…this Cabinet will be the most representative of any in our history.
It will have more people of color than any cabinet, ever.
It will have more women than any cabinet, ever.
It will be a cabinet of barrier breakers. A cabinet of firsts.
…compared to its predecessors, the Biden-Harris Cabinet is first among Cabinets for all of the firsts it represents.
The first ever woman, the first Black woman, and woman of South Asian descent, as Vice President.
The first ever Black Secretary of Defense.
The first ever Latino head of DHS and the first ever Latino head of HHS.
The first woman and South Asian American to lead OMB.
The first woman and Asian American to lead USTR.
The first Black woman to chair the President’s Council of Economic Advisors.
And the first ever woman to hold Alexander Hamilton’s position as Treasury Secretary.
Our Cabinet does not just have one first or just two of these firsts, but eight precedent-busting appointments.
Then Biden introduced his ninth first, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, “…the first ever openly gay nominee to lead a Cabinet department, and one of the youngest Cabinet members ever.”
Original Post:
About a month ago, this author started musing about President-elect Biden’s cabinet picks.
It was based on “gut feeling” along with a little bit of personal preferences and on what the experts and pundits were prognosticating at the time.
A month later, Biden has picked a large chunk of his cabinet, “A Team” and executive staff.
While the future president is certainly living up to his promise of putting together a cabinet and staff reflecting the real America (See “Note 2” below), “us pundits” have failed miserably in outguessing Joe Biden.
Look at the original predictions with the selected official — where announced — following in in bold.
Cabinet and Cabinet-level:
State: Sen. Chris Coon (Susan Rice)* ~~ Antony Blinken
Defense: Michèle Flournoy ~~ Gen Lloyd Austin – The first African-American to lead the Defense Department.
Justice: Sen. Doug Jones (Sally Yates)*
Health and Human Services: Dr. Vivek Murthy ~~ Xavier Becerra – The first Latino to lead this department.
Commerce: Meg Whitman
Treasury: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Raphael Bostic)* ~~ Janet Yellen – The first woman to lead Treasury.
Energy: Ernest Moniz ~~ Gov. Jennifer Granholm [Update]
Interior: Sen. Tom Udall (Deb Haaland)*
Agriculture: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Heidi Heitkamp)* ~~ Tom Vilsack
Labor: Sen. Bernie Sanders (Julie Su)*
Transportation: L. A. Mayor Eric Garcetti ~~ Pete Buttigieg – The first openly gay Cabinet member.
Housing and Urban Development: (Atlanta) Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ~~ Marcia Fudge.
Education: Lily Eskelsen Garcia
Veterans Affairs: Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Robert A. McDonald)* ~~ Denis McDonough.
Department of Homeland Security: Alejandro Mayorkas ~~ Alejandro Mayorkas – The first immigrant and the first Latino to hold this position.
Environmental Protection Agency: Jay Inslee
Office of Management and Budget: Neera Tanden – The first woman of color and the first South Asian American to lead OMB.
United States Trade Representative: Katherine Tai – The first woman of color to be the U.S. trade representative
Central Intelligence Agency: Avril Haines
Director of National Intelligence: Sen. Angus King (Susan M. Gordon)* Avril D. Haines. The first woman to head NIA.
National Security Advisor: Antony Blinken ~~ Jake Sullivan
White House Chief of Staff: Ron Klain
Additional Selections:
U.N. Ambassador: Pete Buttigieg ~~ Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Special Presidential Envoy for climate change: John Kerry
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers: Cecilia Rouse – The first African American to lead the Council of Economic Advisors.
Director of the National Economic Council: Brian Deese.
Surgeon General: Dr. Vivek Murthy
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Dr. Rochelle Walensky
White House Communications Director: Kate Bedingfield. She will head an all-female communications team.
Notes:
1. The asterisks added after the names denote “alternates” to sitting Democratic senators, as nominating a sitting Democratic senator to a cabinet position could risk a majority that might be achieved in Georgia on January 5.
2. ON “diversity”: Wikipedia provides an interesting set of charts illustrating the diversity to-date (Dec. 15) of Biden’s selected cabinet members and cabinet level officials:
a. Racial and Ethnic Diversity: White – 47%; Black 26%; Hispanic- 12.5%
b. Gender Diversity: Mne 53%; Women 47%
c Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity: Heterosexual – 94%; LGBT- 6%
3. For a more critical – perhaps cynical – look at Biden’s “drive for diversity in top political jobs,” please click here.
4. @ Dduck: No one has been nominated yet to the “Department of Concessions.” As you suggest, we don’t need concessions from a has-been.
