Biden could create a Cabinet of qualified men and women. What a concept. (Jennifer Rubin, WaPo) [View all]

[highplainsdem]

Rubin column about Biden saying during a virtual fundraiser last night that he might name some Cabinet secretaries during the race:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/17/cabinet-qualified-men-women/

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There is a lot to unpack there. Let’s start with naming Cabinet positions during the campaign. It’s a dicey proposition because you do not want to wind up with an unfavorable assessment, let alone a scandal, involving someone who doesn’t need to be named for months. Moreover, events and issues can shift over time, thereby favoring someone different in the role than you initially had in mind.

That said, in some instances the contrast with President Trump’s crew of third-rate, ethically challenged cronies would be great enough to provide incentive for unveiling them before the election. Imagine saying, for example, that instead of Attorney General William P. Barr — who has misled the public on the Mueller report, refused to recuse himself from the Ukraine investigation, propagated a dangerous view of executive power and acted like Trump’s personal lawyer — Biden named former U.S. attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara or former acting attorney general Sally Yates.

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Biden could, however, make news and make a point in other ways without naming specific individuals to Cabinet posts. Some would be no-brainers designed to critique Trump’s egregiously compromised and conflicted appointees in top positions: The head of the Environmental Protection Agency must understand climate change science; no oil, coal, gas or lumber executives heading up the Interior Department; and no relatives working in the White House. Biden also could pledge that all Cabinet officials will sell or put stocks and other financial holdings in a blind trust.

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Biden would show he will bring competent, ethical people into government. If he does not want to name particular individuals, he surely could make a list of the egregious personnel traits and backgrounds that would be unwelcome in his administration. Best of all, he could promise never to go around the table at a Cabinet meeting to receive praise as if he were some tin-pot dictator. That might be reason enough to vote for him.