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The most diverse American cabinet in history? This is what the Biden government might look like
Joe Biden promised earlier in the campaign: “My government will look like America.” So diversity should be the motto when the president-elect of the United States assembles his team in the next two and a half months until the inauguration on January 20.
Possible candidates for central ministries have been speculated for weeks. The fact that after Tuesday’s election it has yet to be decided whether Democrats can count on a majority in the US Senate, which ministers must confirm, should have an impact on Biden’s considerations.
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Ministry of Foreign Affairs
SUSAN RICE (55) is a longtime political partner of Biden and Barack Obama. From 2009 to 2013 she was the United States ambassador to the United Nations, after which she became a national security adviser in the Obama White House. At that time, he did not make it to the foreign minister’s office: he abandoned his ambitions after massive criticism from Republicans. They accused her of initially misinforming the public and of minimizing the act of terrorism after an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four American citizens, including the ambassador to Libya, were killed at that time.
Susan Rice. Image: EPA / EPA
Also eligible for the position ANTONY BLINKING (58), who has long advised Biden on foreign policy issues. But he could also become a national security adviser. From 2009 to 2013, he was Biden’s national security adviser when he was Obama’s vice president. Other names are former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs WILLIAM BURNS and Senators CHRIS COONS Y CHRIS MURPHY.
Ministry of Defence
Biden could put the first woman in charge of the Pentagon: MICHÈLE FLOURNOY (59) was already traded as a favorite to succeed then-resigned Defense Minister Chuck Hagel in 2014, but did not take office at the time. Flournoy was Secretary of State at the Pentagon and an advisor to former Defense Ministers Robert Gates and Leon Panetta.
Alternatively, Biden could be the Iraq veteran TAMMY DUCKWORTH (52) who lost her legs in action in 2004. After she recovered, she became Minister of Veterans Affairs in her home state of Illinois, for which she now sits in the Senate. He was born in Bangkok, his father was American, his mother was of Chinese descent from Thailand. Other names are JEH JOHNSON, a black attorney who served as Obama’s Secretary of Homeland Security, and Senators CHRIS COONS Y JACK REED.
Ministry of Finance
The Economist LAEL BRAINARD (58), born in Hamburg, is an expert on fiscal and monetary policy. She is currently one of the five directors of the Federal Reserve and has served as Secretary of State at the Treasury.
Lael Brainard. Image: keystone
Due to the possible Republican majority in the United States Senate, which has to confirm all ministers, the moderate Democrat is considered a more promising candidate than the senator, for example. ELIZABETH WARREN (71), who had also applied for the presidential candidacy. Warren represents a program of the left. Another argument against him is that they would have to give up their Senate seat, which could then be filled by the Republican.
Talking is also RAPHAEL BOSTICwho would be the black and gay prime minister of finance. He is currently chairman of the Atlanta Fed, one of the Federal Reserve’s regional banks. There has also been speculation about Obama’s former Under Secretary of the Treasury, SARAH BLOOM RASKIN, the former vice chairman of the Fed Roger ferguson or former head of the central bank JANET YELLEN.
Ministry of Justice
With his loss in the race for his Senate seat, Biden is more likely DOUG JONES (66) is considering for the position. The Alabama Democrat has a close relationship with Biden and would be a credible figure when it comes to civil rights. His investigation as a prosecutor in Alabama resulted in members of the racist Ku Klux Klan being held accountable decades after a deadly bomb attack on a black church in 1963.
Doug Jones. Image: keystone
Other candidates for the position are considered. SALLY YACHTS, who was attorney general of the United States until January 2017, president of the Federal Democratic Party TOM PEREZ, son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, or XAVIER BECERRA, who became the first Latino to be sworn in as California Attorney General in 2017. (jaw / sda / dpa)
