From our correspondent in Washington
Joe Biden chose skill and experience.
The appointments within the future American administration, announced this week by the elected president, confirmed the campaign promises of the Democratic candidate: to put experts back at the head of the federal government, and to close the parenthesis opened by the election of Donald Trump .
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After four years marked by the very personal management of a president suspicious of senior administration and mocking specialists, putting loyalty before any other consideration and not hesitating to frequently replace his collaborators, the choices of Joe Biden are before all those of a return to normal.
Most of the appointments have held almost similar positions in the Obama Administration
Their mission will be to "
restore America's global stature, its political and moral eminence
," said Joe Biden, and "to
ensure that members of the armed forces, diplomats and intelligence professionals can do their part. work outside of political considerations
”.
Most of the appointments have held almost similar positions in the Obama Administration.
Future Secretary of State Antony Blinken held the posts of Deputy Secretary of State and Deputy National Security Advisor in the previous Democratic Administration.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was also the deputy in that post.
Future Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was Chairman of the Federal Reserve and Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
And Biden's new White House chief of staff Ron Klain has served in the same post under two vice presidents, Al Gore and Joe Biden himself.
John Kerry, chosen by Biden to fill the newly created post of Presidential Climate Envoy, has been a Democratic senator since the 1980s, and served under Obama as Secretary of State.
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The Atlantic
magazine columnist
Graeme Wood quipped, writing that most would not need new business cards, and would only have to mark out a few mentions on the old ones, as their posts are similar to those that they had already occupied.
He also described these choices as "
boring characters who, had they been woken up and named in the middle of the night at any time in the past decade or so in the past decade, could have come up to their new position and started to work. work efficiently from dawn
”.
Because this choice of competence was also that of careers without waves, and perfectly smooth personalities.
For Republicans, Biden returns to power the creatures of the "swamp," a pejorative nickname given by conservatives to politicians and senior federal officials in Washington DC, which Donald Trump had promised to drain.
Failing to be able to denounce Biden's future cabinet as the dangerous leftists against whom they had campaigned, the Republicans focused their attacks on the risks of a restoration of the Obama administration.
Biden's appointments symbolize for the most radical of the party the return to business of the Blob, a term used by an Obama adviser to refer to the interchangeable senior officials, who have failed for more than twenty years to change American policy
"
The members of Biden's cabinet are from East Coast universities, with strong curricula ... and will be polite and fitting assistants to America's decline
," Republican Senator from Florida Marco Rubio wrote on his account. Twitter.
“
I don't see the point of returning to a 'normalcy' that has made us dependent on China.
"
But criticism has also come from the Democratic ranks, and in particular from the left wing of the party.
Biden's appointments symbolize for the more radical of the party the return to business of the Blob, a term used by an Obama adviser to designate the interchangeable senior officials, who have failed for more than twenty years to change American policy.
Critics have also targeted personalities like those of Michèle Flournoy, a favorite to occupy the post of Defense Secretary, who is criticized for too close links with the arms industry or for positions too favorable to military interventions.
For a new generation of Democrats, led by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, Biden's choices are those of an outdated centrism, which did not understand that the showdown was necessary against a Republican Party who practices systematic opposition
These consensual appointments also gave the impression that the future president wanted to avoid confrontations with the Republicans, especially when the candidates were approved by the Senate, which is likely to be dominated by the conservatives again after the elections. partial in Georgia in early January.
For a new generation of Democrats, led by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, Biden's choices are those of an outdated centrism, which did not understand that the showdown was necessary against a Republican Party who practices systematic opposition.
The two elected officials have already publicly opposed the choice by Joe Biden of his former collaborator Bruce Reed as head of the Office of Management and Budget, a key body in the Administration.
"
Reed's rejection will be a major test for the Biden presidency
," the two elected officials wrote in their petition, demanding an appointment "
that will prioritize workers, not Wall Street apostles of austerity
."
The choice of Linda Thomas-Greenfield, career diplomat, as ambassador to the United Nations, also did not satisfy Democrats who hoped to see more personalities of color enter government.
James Clyburn, the coordinator of the Democratic group in the House of Representatives, whose support had been crucial in allowing Joe Biden to win the Democratic primary, criticized the low number of black figures in the future cabinet.
"
There is only one black woman so far,
" said the South Carolina representative, "
I want to see where the process goes, but so far it's not good
."
Joe Biden's rather consensual choices, however, do not appear as a restoration of the Obama administration, but rather as those of a man with decades of experience in government in Washington.
"
I want people who tell me what I need to know
", said the future president, "
not what I want to hear
".