President-elect Biden is likely to name a chief of staff as early as this week. Favored for the job is his former chief of staff, Ron Klain, who had that post from 2009 to 2011 when Biden served as vice president. One qualification that gives Klain the edge is that he served as President Obama’s Ebola response coordinator in 2014–2015, not a bad qualification during the current
pandemic. Another is that Klain is far more acceptable to progressives than Wall Street–afflicted members of Biden’s inner circle such as Steve Ricchetti or more conservative senior advisers like Jeff Zients, CEO of the Cranemere holding company, or former Democratic Leadership Council leader Bruce Reed. As Biden continues his posture of assuming the role of president-elect despite Trump’s non-concession, expect more announcements of senior appointments soon. This is smart as well as statesmanlike. It both reminds Americans of what a competent chief executive looks like, and adds to a politics of inevitability. The more Biden behaves like a president-elect presuming a normal transition, the less stomach Republicans will have for going down with Trump’s sinking ship.
