President Joe Biden elevated Neera Tanden to be the next Domestic Policy Adviser, replacing Susan Rice after she departs the administration this month.
Summary
President Joe Biden elevated Neera Tanden to be the next Domestic Policy Adviser, replacing Susan Rice after she departs the administration this month.
- Tanden currently serves as Biden’s staff secretary, an influential post that manages the paperwork flow to Biden’s desk and his schedules. Her new role heading the Domestic Policy Council will give her sway over most policy areas aside from national security and the economy.
- Rice’s decision to take on a domestic policy brief was unexpected after a career in foreign policy, including stints as President Barack Obama’s national security adviser and UN ambassador. In her role as Domestic Policy Adviser, Rice had substantial influence over the Biden administration’s health care, immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
- Rice became a household name in 2012 during her time as UN Ambassador after she offered some, to put it kindly, “factually challenged” talking points in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead.
- Rice’s conduct after the attack sunk her nomination for Secretary of State in 2013 and has to this day made her essentially unconfirmable by the Senate. Her role as domestic policy adviser does not require Senate confirmation.
- Neera Tanden is similarly the Senate confirmation hearing equivalent of box office poison. Biden picked her for director of the Office of Management and Budget, but her nomination was scuttled by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for her penchant for tweeting out nasty personal insults at senators (and, well, anyone).
- The Washington Post noted Tanden’s extensive background in Democratic politics. Besides her work for Biden, she was the president of the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, and worked in the Clinton and Obama administrations in policy roles.
- “For over two years, Susan Rice has helped craft and implement my domestic policy agenda and our country owes a debt of gratitude for her history-making public service,” Biden said in a statement picked up by CNN. “I am pleased to announce that Neera Tanden will continue to drive the formulation and implementation of my domestic policy, from economic mobility and racial equity to health care, immigration and education.”
- Politico observed that Tanden’s elevation comes as Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign is heating up. Biden’s campaign “will rely, in part, on the effective implementation of a slate of domestic policy accomplishments spanning infrastructure, climate and health care,” all policy areas within the ambit of the Domestic Policy Council. No pressure!
- The New York Post recalled when “Tanden deleted more than 1,000 tweets during her failed quest to lead OMB….Her posts trashed the 2016 presidential bid of socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as Russia’s choice against Democratic Party favorite Hillary Clinton and accused moderate Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) of being “high” on her “own supply.” In a humorous moment during Tanden’s confirmation hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) quipped at her: “You called Sen. Sanders everything but an ignorant slut.””
- Forbes resurfaced other all-time hits from Tanden’s time as one of Twitter’s leading shitposters. In her tweets, Tanden “compared Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to Harry Potter villain Voldemort, called Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) “the worst,” and said vampires have “more heart” than Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.”
- Fox News reported on other personnel moves along with Tanden’s promotion. Stefanie Feldman wlll take over for Tanden as the new White House staff secretary and Zayn Siddique will become the new Principal Deputy of the Domestic Policy Council.
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
