Biden Considering Obama Administration Figures for Cabinet Posts

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Following the Super Tuesday presidential primaries, it seems likely that former Vice President Joe Biden will become the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in this year’s election. Speculation has grown concerning what a Biden administration might look like. This speculation increased after sources within the Biden campaign gave the news website Axios a list of names the candidate is considering for Cabinet posts and other top positions within his administration.

The former vice president’s advisors told Axios that Biden’t Cabinet picks would be charged with implementing “a Return to Normal” plan — a reversal of President Trump’s efforts to stem socialist programs and bureaucratic, anti-business regulations.

Though the phrase “Return to Normal” is reminiscent of Warren G. Harding’s 1920 presidential campaign slogan “Return to normalcy,” it would effectively be just the opposite of what Harding embraced. Harding proposed to restore the United States to the conservatism that existed before World War I, but Biden’s team seeks to return to the “progressive” policies of the Obama administration.

The inclusion of several members of the Obama administration among the Cabinet picks is an indication of the direction Biden might take.

• Former Secretary of State John Kerry (a member of the internationalist Council on Foreign Relations — CFR) might return in that post, or be appointed to a new Cabinet-level climate-change position.

• Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice (also a CFR member) — who was never nominated for secretary of state because of fears she would not be confirmed after misleading the nation about the Benghazi attacks — could also be appointed to head up State in a Biden administration, Axios notes.

• Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates — who held that position in the Obama administration for two years under Attorney General Loretta Lynch and served as acting attorney general for 10 days under Trump before being dismissed for insubordination by Trump — is reportedly being considered by Biden for attorney general. (Yates refused to enforce Executive Order 13769, which restricted travel to the United States from seven Muslim majority countries.)

A report from Common Dreams observed that Biden is considering what it calls Democratic “establishment wing” businessman Michael Bloomberg and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who are both billionaires, for Cabinet posts, with Dimon named as a potential treasury secretary. Biden is also considering Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bank of America vice chair Anne Finucane to head Treasury.

Bloomberg, who dropped out of the presidential race after his campaign ran out of steam, promptly endorsed Biden, and “would be top possibility to head the World Bank” under a Biden administration, according to Axios.

Biden’s rival for the nomination Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the list of potential appointees is further evidence that Biden, if elected, plans to make good on his promise to wealthy donors last June that “nothing would fundamentally change” under his presidency.

In addition to potential Cabinet picks, Axios noted that Biden’s advisors have urged him to name either a woman or an African American as his running mate. The short list includes Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)

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