Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are trying to stitch together an inclusive Administration to represent the real face of the US
The Joe Biden Administration is trying to heal the wounds inflicted by the Trump Administration which had split America right down the middle on racial lines. The veteran politician, who is known to be sharp but down to earth, had promised Americans a Cabinet that would be “the most diverse in history” while he was on the campaign trail. This is no surprise given that Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris is the first woman to be elected Vice-President of the US. What makes this feat even more significant is that she is also the first Black and South Asian person to be elected to the key post and might be on her way to becoming the President if Biden chooses not to run for another term at the White House. Now that the two of them have got down to the business of choosing their Cabinet, Biden is keeping his word to a highly polarised nation in the hope that he will be able to undo some of the damage to the social fabric of the country which is already reeling under the impact of the Trump Administration and the Coronavirus outbreak. So far, the President-elect seems to be living up to the vow of an administration that would reflect the “real face of America”. A significant 54 per cent of the White House appointees are people of colour and 61 per cent are women, while Asian-American and Pacific Islander appointees represent more than twice their share of the US’ population and LGBTQ+ appointees have been given a 11 per cent representation. Some of the trailblazing nominees to the Cabinet are Janet Yellen, who will be the first woman to be the Secretary of Treasury, while Neera Tanden will be the first woman of colour and first South Asian to head the Office of Management and Budget. Then there is Lloyd Austin, the first African American to be the Secretary of Defence, followed by Alejandro Mayorkas, who will go down in US history as the first immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Xavier Becerra will be the first Latino to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
To his credit, the President-elect also appointed the first all-women senior White House communications team, which made headlines globally and sent out the message of gender parity. In 2020-2021, the US seems to have come a long way from the time when in 1791 George Washington sanctified the idea of promoting divergent views in the US Government, even though at that time, ironically, all his appointees were White men. Significantly, since 1933, only 11 US Presidents have named women to Cabinet-level positions even though each successive President, save for the outgoing one, has tried to ensure greater representation of all sections. However, there is a growing demand for an administration that reflects the true America and the Biden-Harris team seems to be trying to achieve that. One of the reasons why it has taken the leader of the supposed “free world” so long to include women and minorities in the decision-making process (even as a developing country like India had a woman Prime Minister way back in 1966, a woman President, Pratibha Patil, in 2007 and numerous women as Chief Ministers) is because in the US, there is a scarcity of women, especially those from the minority base, in elective office. Now as Biden and Harris try to make history and undo the wrongs of the past, one can only hope that the nation will heal itself.
