Picks and Pans for the Biden Cabinet

 In November I offered my out of the box ideas for a Biden unity cabinet. (Shulmaven: Some Out of the Box Ideas for a Biden Unity Cabinet). His cabinet has turned out far too conventional, but he did latch on to my idea of having D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Merrick Garland to be Attorney General. Below you will find my views on several of the Biden nominees who, by and large, will make for a pretty good cabinet.

Picks 

Merrick Garland, Attorney General - He is clearly a class act who will clean up the stench in the Justice Department.

Tony Blinken, Secretary of State - He is an experienced foreign policy hand who has the complete trust of Biden. When he speaks our allies and adversaries will know that he speaks for the president.

Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury- She knows policy and knows Washington and will work well with Fed Chair Powell.

Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce - Currently governor of Rhode Island and former founder of a private equity firm. She has worked well with the Rhode Island business community and a close friend of mind believes that she is one of the smartest people he has ever met.

Gary Gensler, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair - He is an ex-Goldman Sachs partner and headed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, He will be a tough yet fair cop for Wall Street.

Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs- She is an experienced diplomat known for her very tough views on Putin.

Pans

Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior - She is a very ideological  one term congresswoman and a member of the Navajo Nation. She lacks the temperament and the administrative experience to run a 70,000 employee department.

Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services - Another ideologue who lacks administrative experience. If Biden wants unity, his litigation record in California will make it hard for him to break bread with people who legitimate concerns about immigration and abortion. Thankfully Biden's very experienced COVID task force will be walled off from him.

Wendy Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State- She gave away the store with the Iran nuclear deal. Blinkin will have to maintain a very tight reign on her activities.