Civil War on the Left (75): Biden Staff Edition

Well this didn’t take long.

‘People are pissed’: Tensions rise amid scramble for Biden jobs

It is still early in the Biden transition. There are thousands of jobs to fill. But a similar sense of dread is starting to bubble up from veterans of the Biden campaign, particularly those who were there with the president-elect from the Philadelphia announcement speech to the Philadelphia victory speech. The target of their ire? The Obama establishment, which has eclipsed the Clinton name as shorthand for yesterday’s Democratic Party.

The very left Jacobin mag is not happy:

Joe Biden’s New National Security Picks Are Very Troubling

Joe Biden’s first national security hires have been consulting for defense contractors or working for industry-funded think tanks. The picks are of a piece with Biden’s entire career of backing US imperialism rather than bucking it.

And Erin Brockovich is not happy:

Dear Joe Biden: are you kidding me?

I had hopes that this new administration would usher in the dawning of a new day. As  picks for President-elect Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team were announced, I felt concerned and disheartened about a chemical industry insider being on the list. Are you kidding me?

And The Independent is already disappointed:

Biden Is Already Letting Us Down

Joe Biden has been President-elect for less than two weeks as of this writing. And even though he’s still months away from actually assuming office and facing Republican opposition in Congress, he’s already abandoning transformative change for tempered incrementalism. Progressives may have no choice but to primary him in 2024 if they want to avoid losing to an even worse version of Trump. . .

Obviously, the choice many progressives made in November to vote for Biden didn’t mean we cast a vote for his brand of neoliberal capitalism, but a vote against plunging America into fascism. That thankfully succeeded, but “not fascism” is the bare minimum, and shouldn’t be the finish line.

So much disappointment! My long—very long—futures position in popcorn looks like it is going to pay off early.

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