I can’t get whipped up about Neera Tanden. Her nasty tweets about some of the senators to whom she has now come, hat in hand, seeking confirmation, did not leave much of a mark on their targets. But barring something unexpected, they will doom her nomination to be President Biden’s director of the Office of Management and Budget. Already, Senate committees have postponed the vote on Tanden.
Political differences aside, no one doubts Tanden’s competence. The issue is her temperament (and it’s not limited to her Twitter persona). She headed the Center for American Progress, which is a very effective and influential think-tank on the left — very ideological and partisan in the Clinton-Obama mold. Obviously, whoever runs OMB is going to be implementing President Biden’s policy, not her own (to the limited extent there may be differences). Within reason, there should be a presumption in favor of a president’s nominees for executive positions, provided they are not corrupt and have demonstrated competence in the subject matter they’re being appointed to manage.
Comments