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Austin’s appointment implies, according to Biden’s accounts, “giving back” to African Americans. (Getty)
On Wednesday, United States President-elect Joe Biden presented his candidate for the post of Defense Secretary, retired General Lloyd Austin, despite concerns expressed by lawmakers about the appointment of a former general to head the Pentagon. , in the middle of a controversy over the “militarization of the position”.
It was notable that Biden took the occasion to announce this appointment on his own, as he did not reveal any names for the remaining vacant positions in his administration, noting that Politico magazine was the first to reveal this name, which was later confirmed by the New York Times and any channel. PC. “It’s as if he wanted to highlight the move as an unprecedented major event, while anticipating the reservations and questions that he realizes his election will raise, especially at the congressional level. In fact, this is what happened and from the Democratic and Republican trenches. Thus, the president-elect was at the forefront of a battle that may not be easy to obtain the approval of the Senate on the appointment of Austin, in addition to the questions that he raised about the defense policy that intends to adopt your administration.
The objection to Austin’s appointment was divided between open and implicit. The first was the most important and generally concerned the candidate’s military identity. It was enacted by bipartisan icons in the Senate. Specifically, on Democrats affiliated with the president, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Richard Blumenthal, and others.
Historically, only two retired generals have held this position, namely George Marshall in the administration of President Harry Truman in the late 1950s, and four years ago at the beginning of the presidency of Donald Trump, who led General James Mattis to the defense, who did not garner broad support from the House despite the Republicans’ hold on him. .
And granting a professional military officer a ministerial portfolio within 7 years of his retirement requires a special exemption from the Senate, as a condition to ensure the exclusion of the military from politics, except in the necessary exceptional cases. Hence the objection to Austin as a general rather than a competition. According to the Democrats, there was no reason for Biden to follow Trump in this regard and choose a military man who has only spent 4 years in retirement to receive this bag.
But it seems that the president-elect of the United States has his other domestic calculations. There are question marks lurking as to whether political considerations preceded this appointment over the other basic standards and specifications. Among Biden’s salient considerations is that he limited most of his appointments to those who are comfortable with them and who previously worked with him when he was Vice President Barack Obama, indicating an intention to replicate the Obama administration’s political approach in the areas of national security and foreign policy.
General Austin had cooperated with Biden during the first undertaking of the Iraq withdrawal process in 2011. It is not insignificant that Biden indicated in his statement that the retired general “knows the cost of wars.” It is known that his position on Iraq was characterized by fluctuations, ranging from supporting the invasion in 2003 to withdrawing from it, to proposing a recipe for its division.
The most important thing about this appointment, which is part of the preference for minorities and people of color in the formation of the Biden administration, is that he is the first African-American to assume the defense portfolio of 6 soldiers of the same origins who have reached the rank of general in the US Army. The issue will be linked to the name of the president-elect as the owner of this pioneering step, which gives credibility to his motto, which he has always repeated, as closer to the concerns of minorities, especially African Americans, and adopting their complaints and problems.
Likewise, this precedent implies, in his calculations, something of “giving back” to African Americans who played the leading role in elevating him to the position of advanced party candidate among Democrats across the state of South Carolina, which secured the support of the prominent Black Democratic Representative James Claiborne, in which he won in the party elections, which served as the starting point for the candidacy against Trump.
Additionally, African American votes played a significant role in his victory in several crucial states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
Promoting Austin to this position is not out of these accounts. However, he is greeted by many civilians, such as former Senator Claire McCaskill, and military personnel such as General Barry McCaffrey and others. This is true if the Senate approves his appointment, and that depends on the political climate that follows the Georgia State Senate elections on January 5 and Biden’s presidential inauguration on January 20.
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