|
Post by kerouac2 on Nov 24, 2020 18:02:42 GMT
I know that this subject is a bit premature, but I'm pretty sure that some of us already want to start talking about it, so here goes. The title of the thread might be modified at some time in the future, but I just hope that it will be no worse than "The Biden disappointment" and not "The Biden fiasco."
So far, as I'm concerned, the possible cabinet does not look all that bad, but I will be extremely surprised if anybody below age 45 enters the government. (Actually, I am already wrong because the possible National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is 43.) The United States still seems to place all of its trust in seasoned politicians/bureaucrats (except of course for President Trump who seemed to recruit some of them from the funny farm). There's nothing wrong with experience, but it generally excludes new ideas, which some of us would like to see more of.
That doesn't mean that some of the old ideas are bad -- they are just from another century and possibly not adapted to modern times.
I know that France should be quite happy with Antony Blinken as Secretary of State since he went to high school in Paris and might actually understand France for once. By the same token, a lot of people in the United Kingdom might be disappointed in him because he thinks that Brexit was the worst idea ever. But as special allies, I'm sure they will work something out.
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on Nov 24, 2020 18:24:58 GMT
I think it's going to take a period of visibly having grown-ups in charge, in terms of both restoring confidence internationally and actually rebuilding the upper levels of the administration. Plus I'd guess that putting forward people who've already been deputies of this and that makes it harder for the Senate to kick up a credible fuss over confirming them. My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on Nov 24, 2020 18:54:19 GMT
I'll throw what might be a ridiculous scenario in here, but it has happened before and may happen again and I'm sure it will have already crossed the minds of those in the Secret Service. Trump tends to polarise people, as with Marmite. But unlike Marmite there are bound to be many who are so angry Trump has been "cancelled" that is there the possibility one or more may take umbrage to such an extent, they decide to take retribution on Biden from a grassy knoll somewhere? Or whatever the modern day equivalent is.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Nov 24, 2020 19:56:58 GMT
I heard a comment that Biden's cabinet is indeed made of up people he has known and worked with for a long time, but that he wanted to hire people who know what they are doing and can get to work immediately. Particularly in the State Department, which was neglected, defunded and had lots of positions unfilled over the past 4 years. Of course, Biden's main job will be domestic politics.
The same commentator (a former US diplomat) said Biden has 2 years to get things done because of the mid-term elections.
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Nov 25, 2020 5:15:58 GMT
I won't miss the bizarre, stochastic, bat poop cray-cray of the Cheeto Benito but as a lefty I can't get too excited about a coming administration that will be almost indistinguishable from the Romney or Jeb Bush one we'd might have had if the Rs hadn't turned into a Trump cult. I marched against people very much like Biden and I don't regret a step. I'm both profoundly ambivalent and relieved.
|
|
|
Post by questa on Nov 25, 2020 5:33:23 GMT
I am amazed that no-one attempted the "grassy knoll solution" during the last 4 years. With so many firearms in the hands of people who have not been noted for their calm restraint, I consider that even that was a small miracle.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Nov 25, 2020 6:59:09 GMT
I am amazed that no-one attempted the "grassy knoll solution" during the last 4 years. With so many firearms in the hands of people who have not been noted for their calm restraint, I consider that even that was a small miracle. That's because a lot of them support Trump. Why would they try to get rid of him?
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 25, 2020 18:51:43 GMT
I guess that most of us are just happy that Biden has beaten Trumpipants. Its soooo nice to hear a coherent sentence coming out of his mouth after the inane ramblings of the barely literate boasting bigot he is replacing.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Nov 29, 2020 19:47:57 GMT
President-elect Biden seems to have dropped mostly out of the news, at least in the rest of the world. I think we all got worn out by this election business and most people don't want to pay attention again until January 20th.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 10, 2020 15:45:49 GMT
I am curious about that old guy who Biden wants to be in charge of the Pentagon. Should national defence really be put under the control of a retiree? I'm sure that Lloyd Austin was an excellent general (not that I know anything about the military), but it seems to me once again that a function like this should be handled by someone more attuned to the 21st century.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 10, 2020 18:13:57 GMT
I think I have these details right, but haven't looked them up to verify. Anyway:
I believe Scty of Defense is always a civilian. The anticipated problem with getting Austin in is that he has only been retired for three years, whereas the nominee for that position is supposed to have been retired for at least five years.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 10, 2020 21:18:01 GMT
Some veterans groups are disappointed that Biden’s pick for VA chief never served in uniform <-- clickIf you can't open the link above, the text is in the spoiler. {Spoiler}By Alex Horton Dec. 10, 2020 at 1:27 p.m. CST
Veterans groups anticipating President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for veterans affairs secretary envisioned at least one trait: the Day 1 credibility of having served in uniform.
But Biden’s pick announced Thursday, former White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, surprised and even confused some leaders at veterans service organizations, who regularly meet with VA chiefs to surface the top concerns of their members.
“He’ll have to go a long way to prove himself to a very skeptical population who would prefer someone with more direct veteran and VA experience,” said Jeremy Butler, chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group.
“He’s starting in a position of public deficit because of who he is not,” he said.
Veterans groups have come to expect VA chiefs to carry deep community ties into the job, and there is disappointment among group leaders that McDonough did not serve in uniform, said one top veterans service organization official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to frankly discuss the selection.
The Biden transition team said McDonough, chosen for his closeness to Biden and experience wrangling bureaucracy, is eager to win over skeptics and has started outreach to veterans leaders.
“McDonough knows how to pull every lever of government to effectively serve our veterans and their families,” the transition said.
If confirmed, McDonough would be the 11th VA secretary since the agency was elevated to a Cabinet-level organization in 1989 but only its second nonveteran leader. VA, the second-largest federal agency, includes health care for 9 million veterans, a vast benefits bureaucracy and dozens of national cemeteries, with a budget of $263 billion in 2021.
Selecting McDonough, a trusted Obama administration hand, is a promising sign for a strong relationship with Biden off the bat, Butler said. His efforts to guide the VA Choice Act, a measure that allowed veterans to seek non-VA care and a bill President Trump has tried to take credit for, also shows chops for navigating Capitol Hill, he said.
But Butler also said out of IAVA’s three desired criteria for a VA secretary — a veteran, health-care experience and bureaucracy management — McDonough meets only the management requirement. Yet he has not overseen anything close to the size of VA, a workforce that has crested 300,000 employees.
The pick was so unexpected that Amvets, a veterans service organization, had prepared news releases centered on other candidates but not any material on McDonough, said executive director Joe Chenelly.
Amvets was looking forward to a woman or a veteran of post-9/11 military to lead VA, Chenelly said, in a pivotal moment when female veterans are the fastest growing group within VA.
“We were thinking this was going to be history, but not this kind of history,” Chenelly said. “We’re a little concerned, but we have open ears. We want to hear as soon as possible about his vision.”
Recent VA secretaries, including Robert Wilkie and Bob McDonald, leaned on their prior service to connect with veterans. Trump’s first VA secretary, David Shulkin, did not serve in the military.
Other veterans group welcomed the selection of McDonough. Rick Weidman, executive director for policy and government affairs at Vietnam Veterans of America, said it was more important for McDonough to be experienced and influential within policy circles.
“You don’t have to be a veteran to be a great veterans advocate,” Weidman said. “He’s very serious, and he’ll get things done.”
The selection, he said, renewed optimism that McDonough will work with veterans groups on unfinished work, including linking toxic exposure to health concerns.
Burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, defoliants such as Agent Orange in Vietnam and depleted uranium during the Gulf War have left veterans with crippling problems, but VA has been slow to recognize the evidence, which has affected benefits and care, Weidman said.
Progress has stalled in recent years, he said.
“The Trump administration basically blew off the veterans organizations and didn’t take us seriously,” Weidman said.
Other veterans group leaders have voiced similar frustrations with current VA chief Wilkie, necessitating repairs to the relationship between VA’s executive office and veterans groups, they said.
Leaders have been concerned over Wilkie’s recent conduct, including allegations he tried to discredit a Hill staffer and Navy veteran who said she was sexually assaulted at the VA hospital in D.C. last year.
VA’s inspector general said Wilkie openly denigrated the staffer, Andrea Goldstein, and ascribed political motives to her claims in a report issued Thursday. Wilkie denied the claims.
McDonough does carry some ties to prior service members. His wife, Kari, is the president and co-founder of Vets’ Community Connections, a nonprofit group based in San Diego focused on strengthening ties between veterans and the larger community.
Patrick Murphy, a former lawmaker and Army undersecretary who was a candidate for the position, congratulated McDonough on Twitter.
“He’s a good man & cares deeply about meeting the challenges the VA faces today,” Murphy said.
Alex Horton Alex Horton is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post. He previously covered the military and national security for Stars and Stripes, and served in Iraq as an Army infantryman.
|
|
|
Post by questa on Dec 11, 2020 0:21:58 GMT
but it seems to me once again that a function like this should be handled by someone more attuned to the 21st century. I read somewhere that Biden specifically chose him for the position as the 'old, wise man' and provide a link to the "old days" to re-assure the nervous new Dems.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 11, 2020 4:19:56 GMT
You mean to prevent a military coup putting Trump back in power?
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Dec 11, 2020 4:38:17 GMT
Austin is only 67 years old. Apparently neither of you read what I wrote above. Anyway -- Lloyd Austin retired from military service more than four years ago. The law states that an officer must have left the service at least seven years before becoming secretary of defense. But I hope that Congress will grant a waiver to Secretary-designate Austin, just as Congress did for Secretary Jim Mattis. source
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 11, 2020 5:22:26 GMT
I am well aware of what you wrote earlier. Do you think it is sufficient to automatically agree?
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Dec 16, 2020 6:52:39 GMT
Now that Russia, Brazil and Mexico have finally sent their congratulations to the president-elect, perhaps things will get rolling.
|
|
|
Post by lugg on Dec 16, 2020 19:50:44 GMT
I was surprised that Mexico was so late to the party.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jan 7, 2021 16:49:45 GMT
If the Electoral College were eliminated, that would get rid of so many of the problems that happened in this election. Even the ceremony is ridiculous -- I watched it this morning, and they might as well have been wearing British legal wigs. Does anybody here think that there is even a remote possibility of the new administration working on this problem?
Right now, the DC mayor is making a speech and asking that DC statehood be put on the agenda.. That would certainly make sense since it would promote equality among American citizens. Even though Washington DC is 17 times smaller than the smallest state (Rhode Island), it has a higher population than two states that have full rights (senators and a representative in the lower house) -- Wyoming and Vermont.
Time for some changes?
|
|
|
Post by questa on Jan 8, 2021 10:40:18 GMT
There are so many anachronisms that US could sweep out with the broken glass on Capitol Hill. The primaries have always puzzled me...other democracies seem to get on without the huge expense which denies less cashed up candidates their ability to be heard. So you wonder why the only candidates left standing are old white men...and they are still standing thanks to family fortunes.
The practice of each state in a federal election to use their own method of managing the voting, counting and protecting ballot papers. OK...State elections can be a marbles game or count the chads competition but the whole country must vote and be counted the same way for National elections otherwise it is a farce.
The Electoral College. Look how the world is becoming smoother, faster and more efficient. Now look at the College. Even the general public are puzzled by "What does it do". A non-elected person can get rid of legally elected candidates?
And my pet hobby-horse...compulsory voting. Where there is a requirement to vote, people are more likely take notice in what is taking place in their neighbourhood, then they know that as they will go to vote anyway they might as well find out what they are voting for.
The New Zealand method of election is worth studying." Its defining characteristic is a mix of members of Parliament (MPs) from single-seat electorates and MPs elected from a party list, with each party's share of seats determined by its share of the party vote nationwide." The effect is that there is room for all the small voices and their concerns, not just the big voices.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jan 13, 2021 13:45:42 GMT
There are still 40 persons being detained in the totally illegal Guantanamo prison, 15 of them since 2002. No lawyer, no trials, total disrespect of international conventions.
The Supreme Court of the United States said in 2006 that the policies in place at the Guantanamo prison were illegal, but apparently the Supreme Court can be ignored when it suits the government in place. However, Vice President Biden promised at the Munich Security Conference of 2009 that Guantanamo would be closed and the laws respected at last. Nothing happened.
I want to know what we can expect from President Biden. Business as usual?
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Jan 13, 2021 15:40:50 GMT
Biden is a bigger foreign policy (FP) hawk than Trump, I'd expect nothing to improve in that area vs. the last four years. Almost certain to get worse in fact, we've gone four years with no new wars—Clinton made clear she wanted to start a new war in Syria, and her and Biden's FP teams will be very similar.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jan 13, 2021 16:43:57 GMT
Even though I have no illusions regarding the reason that Hollywood has filmed a new Guantanamo movie (money!), at least this might get the debate going again if enough people see it.
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Jan 17, 2021 15:23:46 GMT
Biden's political agenda (campaign promises) for his first 100 days in office are sounding incredibly unrealistic and naive.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jan 17, 2021 15:36:51 GMT
I accept that for any new president. The important thing is how they adjust to reality. We have been going through this with Macron in France, and I still think it is better to try and fail than to listen to the people who say "don't even try."
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jan 17, 2021 19:52:03 GMT
I totally agree with that, Kerouac. Casimira, some of what Biden has to do can be accomplished fairly quickly by the use of Executive orders which will overturn Trump's many vindictive anti-Obama Executive orders: President-elect Joe Biden is planning to quickly sign a series of executive orders after being sworn into office on Jan. 20, immediately forecasting that the country’s politics have shifted and that his presidency will be guided by radically different priorities. He will rejoin the Paris climate accords, according to those close to his campaign and commitments he has made in recent months, and he will reverse President Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. He will repeal the ban on almost all travel from some Muslim-majority countries, and he will reinstate the program allowing “dreamers,” who were brought to the United States illegally as children, to remain in the country, according to people familiar with his plans.The source of the above is from November 7, so there are undoubtedly more recent stories on the subject. Nevertheless, it has now been reiterated that rejoining the Paris climate accord will happen immediately, for instance. edition.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/joe-biden-executive-orders-paris-climate-accord-muslim-ban/index.html
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jan 18, 2021 21:21:44 GMT
I see that Garth Brooks has accepted to perform at the Biden inauguration. He said "I might be the only Republican there, but I'm doing it for unity."
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Jan 19, 2021 16:13:07 GMT
I accept that for any new president. The important thing is how they adjust to reality. We have been going through this with Macron in France, and I still think it is better to try and fail than to listen to the people who say "don't even try." I'm aware that this is the norm. However, we're not dealing with anything that's even remotely normal at this time. We're in uncharted waters here and to make promises that are so challenging and yes, unrealistic, is bordering on being careless and irresponsible. The experienced personnel that he has hired does make it seem more "doable" yes.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jan 19, 2021 17:52:54 GMT
I don't find his promises all that unrealistic. What I do think is that the public is trained to expect much less than they should and willing to spend gazillions on "security" but terrified to let a penny go for universal health care, in case someone "undeserving" might be helped.
The people Biden has been picking do seem like good choices, but I suspect everyone one of them is more from the centrist part of the spectrum. My hopes are all invested in the teensy majority in the Senate and the fact that some of the vilest of the congressional members have been outed. I'm hoping that the BLM and other protests coupled with the horror of this pandemic might make for more human-friendly legislation, but ......
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Jan 19, 2021 17:55:42 GMT
There is so much work to be done to begin reversal of the damage of the last four years, I’m willing to give the Biden/Harris administration a lot of short-term leeway. And who knows the things we don’t even know at this point. I’m suspecting the USA is in overall worse shape than the public even knows. I’m confident that, with the experience this new administration brings, and with the selection of new cabinet members and others in leadership positions, we will slowly begin to see some positive changes.
|
|