More Biden Cabinet Picks

Joe Biden nominated more people for his Cabinet, including former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm as Secretary of Energy and New Mexico congresswoman Deb Haaland (pronounced "Holland") for Secretary of the Interior.  I had been hoping that Biden would nominated Steve Bullock, the outgoing governor of Montana, for Interior Secretary, given that he lost his Senate bid and is leaving public office.  But Bullock carries the original double sin of being white and male, so he never had a chance.  And although it more than makes sense to nominate a Native American woman like Haaland (below) to head a department that manages federal land and resources and oversee affairs with the indigenous tribal nations, the big problem with the nomination is that she has to give up her House seat, which won't be filled by a special election for months.  According to my calculations, all Biden has to do is nominate two more Democratic U.S. Representatives to his Cabinet and Kevin McCarthy becomes House Speaker.  

Biden didn't poach the House for an Environmental Protection Agency administrator, at least.  He choice Michael Regan, North Carolina's Secretary of Environmental Quality, who would be the first black man to head the agency.  Don't look so much at his race as at his record; he's had to deal with coal ash pits and pig manure in North Carolina, so he knows how to handle two of the most polluting industries in the country - coal and pork production.  Both Haaland and Regan do, though, represent Biden's efforts to lessen the negative impacts of the environment on racial and ethnic minorities.

And with Jenifer Granholm prepared to oversee clean energy development and energy-efficient systems to aid in transit, that leads me to the choice of Pete Buttigieg (below) as Secretary of Transportation, which represents another underappreciated minority - Americans of Maltese origin. 😉  Mayor Pete is obsessed with cars and trains as much as Biden is, and I'm sure he grew up playing with toy cars like every other American boy (I had a figure-eight highway overpass for my Matchbox cars, one of the best toys I ever had!).  With his youth and his world view, Mayor Pete might very well be the guy who gives us what we transit-crazy Europhiles want - bullet trains for Amtrak and electric cars and minicars for suburban streets.  I'll take a Volkswagen ID.3, please! 

Biden can get his energy and transportation infrastructure passed through Congress with this team.  Unless, of course, he picks off more House members for his Cabinet.

As for a post for Martin O'Malley . . .yeah, that ain't going to happen.  Why do we need an Irish Catholic in the Cabinet when we'll have an Irish Catholic in the Oval Office?  O'Malley mostly sat on the sidelines during the 2020 presidential campaign, and therefore Biden doesn't owe him anything.  I have to be honest - O'Malley will likely never return to public life unless Biden makes him Ambassador to Ireland.  As someone who plays up his Irishness more than Biden does - which, ironically, has led some folks to call him a white Democrat as white as a Democrat can possibly be - O'Malley would be perfect for the post. 

At least a young Democrat O'Malley championed - Buttigieg - will be on Biden's team.  Which is more than I can say for another young Democrat he championed even more, Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke.  Seen him tapped for a Cabinet post lately?