WASHINGTON: After pushing Biden-Harris’s ticket to the White House, American women in all their diversity are on their way to a fair share of executive positions 100 years after winning the right to vote in the United States.
In striking recognition of his ability, merit and overwhelming support for the Democratic Party, President-elect Joe Biden launched an all-female team to head the White House communications office on Sunday, and is expected to nominate Indian-American Neera. Tanden. as a budget director on a finance team that will also be dominated by women.
He is also expected to name Cecilia Rouse, an economist at Princeton University, as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, with economists Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey as other members.
Together with former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, who was elected as Secretary of the Treasury last week, they will constitute a troika of women making decisions on monetary and budget matters, areas long dominated by men.
Separately, Biden appointed an all-female White House press team to be led by Kate bedingfield, its campaign communications director who will serve as the White House communications director. Jen Psaki, a longtime Democratic spokeswoman, will serve as his press secretary. Biden-Harris Senior Campaign Advisor Symone Sanders Will Be Vice President Elect Kamala harrisHarris’ lead spokesperson and communications director will be Ashley Etienne, a senior advisor to Biden’s campaign who served as Nancy Pelosi’s communications director.
Karine Jean-Pierre, a former aide to Kamala Harris who was her chief of staff on the Biden-Harris campaign, will be the White House’s chief deputy press secretary. Elizabeth Alexander, a former Biden press secretary, will serve as First Lady Jill Biden’s communications director, and Pili Tomar will serve as White House deputy communications director.
What is surprising about the teams is not only the gender aspect, but also the diversity in terms of race, ethnicity and background. While Tanden will be only the third woman to be nominated to head the Office of Management and Budget (would need to be confirmed by the Senate), she is the first American Indian or minority woman to be appointed to the position. Cecilia Rouse, who is African American, would be the first woman of color to chair the Council of Economic Advisers. Yellin will be the first female Treasury Secretary in the country’s history since Alexander Hamilton in 1789.
On the White House communications team, Karine Jean-Pierre and Pili Tobar, both lesbians, are of Haitian and Guatemalan origin respectively.
But the next most controversial nomination, first reported in the Wall Street Journal, will be Neera Tanden, who is something of a lightning rod even within the Democratic Party. She currently leads the liberal think tank Center for American Progress in Washington DC, and is seen as not progressive enough by Bernie sanders radicals he has come up against over the years. His nomination will have to go through the Senate Budget Committee, which Sanders will chair if the Democrats win control of the Senate.
The daughter of immigrant parents from India who divorced when she was only five, Tanden was raised by her mother, like Kamala Harris, in difficult circumstances, including a stint on welfare and food stamps. She went to Yale Law School and she volunteered for the Dukakis campaign in 1988, making her a contemporary of Kamala and her sister Maya. She also served as legislative director for Hillary Clinton when she (Clinton) was a senator.
The women voted 57-42 for the Biden-Harris ticket.
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