Out and In

If Kamala Harris is elected President of the United States on November 5, the transition of power from President Biden will be the first transition of power from one elected Democratic President to another since Franklin Pierce transferred power to James Buchanan in 1857.  (By contrast, there have been five transitions of power from one elected Republican President to another since then, the most recent one being from Ronald Reagan to George H.W. Bush in 1989.)

Bearing that in mind, don't expect a Harris administration to resemble the Biden administration.  If Harris becomes President, she likely won't retain the Biden Cabinet.  She'll want her own Secretary of the Treasury, her own national security team, and her own roundtable of economic advisors.  Her plans to help more small businesses is a clear contrast from President Biden's economic policies.  As a President with a Jewish spouse, she'll likely take a more nuanced policy toward Israel and the Middle East, and as a woman, she's already been more to the forefront on reproductive rights than President Biden, a male Catholic, can be. 

Oh, she may retain a few Cabinet members, just as George H.W. Bush retained Education Secretary Lauro Cavazos from Ronald Reagan and just as Herbert Hoover in 1929 retained Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon from Calvin Coolidge (who inherited Mellon when President Warren Harding died).  She's likely to have an even more diverse Cabinet; after Vice President Tim Walz, the highest-ranking white male Christian in a Harris Cabinet might very well be the Secretary of Commerce.  She may decide to try to get Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su confirmed after Joe Manchin leaves the Senate, as it was he who slowed Su's confirmation to be the permanent Labor Secretary . . .  or she might do what I suggested and appoint Tim Ryan to that post.  But most of her Cabinet officers will likely be new faces one way or the other, some of whom we may not have heard of yet.

One thing is for certain if Harris is elected: She will not retain Attorney General Merrick Garland, given his foot-dragging in prosecuting the mastermind behind the January 6 insurrection (you know whom I'm talking about; I won't mention his name).  Recent reporting has revealed that making Garland the chief law enforcement officer of the nation is Biden's biggest regret.