I found this piece at Politico and the situation it describes a combination of comical and tragic:
Women’s rights activists and allied Democrats are growing increasingly vocal about what they call the unfair targeting of women and people of color nominated by Joe Biden to top posts in his administration.
Their fears had been bubbling for weeks, as Biden’s nominees of color came under sharp attack from conservative groups or saw their nominations delayed or opposed in greater numbers. But the worries burst out into the open over the weekend as Neera Tanden’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget neared defeat at the hands of a Democrat.
Women’s rights activists and allied Democrats are growing increasingly vocal about what they call the unfair targeting of women and people of color nominated by Joe Biden to top posts in his administration.
Their fears had been bubbling for weeks, as Biden’s nominees of color came under sharp attack from conservative groups or saw their nominations delayed or opposed in greater numbers. But the worries burst out into the open over the weekend as Neera Tanden’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget neared defeat at the hands of a Democrat.
Let’s start with the last complaint first. Does the White House really want to complain that the ambassador to Germany is as important to them as the director of the Office of Management and the Budget? In that case withdraw Ms. Tanden’s appointment as director of OMB and appoint her ambassador to Germany. Ambassadorships historically have frequently been considered inconsequential and ways of rewarding party loyalists and contributors, cf. the talk of appointing Rahm Emanuel to be ambassador to Japan.
But consider the charges of racism and sexism more closely. When you brag that you’re appointing a more diverse set of people than any administration in history, following up by complaining that scrutinizing your appointments is racist and sexist is bizarre and demeaning. The complaints about Ms. Tanden are that she’s too partisan to be director of OMB and unqualified to boot. Is the claim that all South Asians and women are highly partisan and unqualified? Surely not. Are they arguing that considerations of temperament and qualifications are off limits so long as the appointee is a woman and South Asian? I remember Sen. Joe Biden voting against the confirmation of a Jewish woman appointee to the Supreme Court on the grounds she was unqualified. I thought he did the right thing. Was I wrong or has something changed? I also recall that Jewish and conservative groups made precisely the same frivolous claims of sexism and anti-semitism.
The problem is not that Ms. Tanden is a woman or of South Asian descent. It is that she’s virulently partisan, Mr. Biden ran on unifying the country, and she’s not qualified for the job. In particular Ms. Tanden is not a unifying candidate but a divisive one.
Withdraw her appointment, chalk it up to lessons learned, and appoint a more qualified, less divisive candidate.
Well, there you go again. Being all rational and such……….
I agree with you BUT hearing complaints about how she was mean on Twitter after suffering through Trump and having the GOP elect a Q supporter is awfully rich, but someone has to start. My prediction is that her nomination gets withdrawn and they nominate a “nicer” person. Next time the GOP is in charge, just like last time, they dont worry about it.
Steve
I seem to recall the WaPo complaining about Trump’s mean tweets. Now they’re defending Tanden.
Senators have the constitutional authority to approve or disapprove presidential appointments. They can do so on any grounds they care to or on no grounds at all. An appointee’s hyperpartisanship and lack of experience and qualifications are completely legitimate grounds for rejection.
Trump was actually POTUS. Conservatives, including the ones here, defend him. To be fair, they might not defend every tweet, but they defend him not being worried if he was not nice. WaPo is doing the same thing. Also, she was not in a national political leadership position when she was making them so the two are hardly comparable.
The point here is that the GOP really doesnt care about mean tweets. They fully support them when it is their guy making them, or at least are willing to ignore them. This is just a way to go after a nominee. If Biden wants to pull her nomination that is OK with me, but lets not pretend that in return the GOP elect or put in power people who do similar in the future.
Steve
I don’t believe that Trump was temperamentally suited to be president and said so many times. With him and with Ms. Tanden it’s not just a case of “mean tweets”. The question that senators must ask is whether she’s someone with whom they can work? And it’s not just Republicans asking the question. She went out of her way to alienate anyone not progressive enough to suit her tastes and it’s coming back to haunt her.