Joe Biden Names Neera Tanden to Cabinet, and People Are Not Happy

President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Neera Tanden to be the director of the White House Office [...]

By Michael Hein

President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Neera Tanden to be the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget when he takes office, and many supporters are not happy. Tanden is the president of a liberal think-tank called the Center for American Progress, and her actions as a public figure have been questionable over the years. Seeing Tanden take a cabinet position in the Biden-Harris administration has many of their supporters upset.

Tanden is a controversial choice for Biden's cabinet on many levels, from the personal to the professional. While she works for a liberal organization, Tanden is considered a "fiscal conservative" by many, and her job will now be to oversee the administration's spending and policy plans. According to a report by Refinery 29, Tanden has advocated for making significant cuts to social security and other social safety nets — referring to them generally as "entitlement programs." Given the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic recession, many are outraged at these stances.

Tanden has also been accused of hypocrisy during her time in the public eye. Shortly after taking over CAP, she shut down its online publication ThinkProgress when its workers formed a union. At the same time, she has attacked Bernie Sanders and progressive politicians like him in the media.

Perhaps most dramatically of all, Tanden is accused of punching ThinkProgress' chief editor, Faiz Shakir, after he interviewed Hillary Clinton and asked her about the Iraq War. When asked about this later by The New York Times, Tanden only said: "I didn't slug him, I pushed him."

Other scandals and drama have plagued 50-year-old Tanden for years, and many voters are perplexed that Biden would appoint her to an important cabinet position after all of these issues. Her appointment drew heavy criticism on social media. Here is a look at how the outrage played out.

Progressive

Tanden pointedly removed the term "progressive" from her Twitter bio on Monday, perhaps noting that it no longer matched with the current connotation of the term. Tanden is generally seen as an enemy of the political faction now being called "progressives" in the U.S., including Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.

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Tweets

Tanden is prolific on Twitter, and many Republican critics called her out for this after her appointment was announced. Others called this ironic given the way President Donald Trump uses social media.

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Lobbyists

Critics also brought up Tanden's history of accepting money an gifts from lobbying groups and individuals, arguing that this was tantamount to accepting bribes.

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Progressives

While self-described provessive voters were put off by Tanden, not all politicians who fall into that group were. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Stacey Abrams and others endorsed her on Monday.

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Centrist

Tanden's supporters argued that she has only done what one needs to do in order to make their way in a political career, and that it is actually a good sign that both Republicans and progressives do not like her. This framed the Democratic party in the U.S. as the political center, rather than the left.

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Aid Programs

On Monday, Tanden tweeted about how much it meant to her to take over the OMB so that she could oversee assistance programs she once relied on. Critics responded with comments about her past disdain for such programs during her career.

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Confirmation

While Tanden's critics on both sides complained, her supporters grew concerned about whether she would be confirmed to her office at all. The Senate is required to confirm the president's cabinet appointments, and if Republicans refuse to do so with Tanden, it could set a bad tone for Biden's presidency.

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