A somewhat perverse measure of a political faction’s credibility is the amount of outrage engendered among its partisans for failure to meet expectations. Lefties rarely seems to get as angry at Republicans for this as they do at Democrats. Their expectations for Republicans are pretty low, after all, and they demand better of Democrats. The ones you love can always disappoint you the most.
But come on. After four years of Donald Trump in the Oval Office and him still leading their party, the double standard over Neera Tanden’s nomination to lead President Joe Biden’s Office of Management and Budget is beyond ridiculous even for Republicans.
Sens. Susan Collins and Mitt Romney announced Monday they would oppose Tanden, President and CEO of the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress. “Her past actions have demonstrated exactly the kind of animosity that President Biden has pledged to transcend,” Collins said, referring to Tanden’s history of throwing elbows on Twitter, including at Collins.
A Romney spokeswoman said, “He believes it’s hard to return to comity and respect with a nominee who has issued a thousand mean tweets.”
Cue Claude Rains.
A return to comity and respect might also include Collins and Romney showing a little toward the picks of the president who kicked their candidate’s butt by 7 million votes. Then again, one has low expectations for Republicans.
But Sen. Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, announced on Friday his opposition to Tanden as well:
“I believe her overtly partisan statements will have a toxic and detrimental impact on the important working relationship between members of Congress and the next director of the Office of Management and Budget,” Manchin said in a statement.
Looking forward not backward is a weathervaney sort of stance in Washington, D.C. Manchin’s pearl-clutching puts him in a position to sink Tanden’s nomination.
From the Washington Post Editorial Board:
Yes, Ms. Tanden has been undiplomatic. But the case against her confirmation is weak — especially when you compare her with many of the people Republican senators have endorsed in the past.
Republican opposition to Ms. Tanden because of her sometimes-tough tweeting reflects some mind-boggling hypocrisy. Republicans spent four years playing down and forgiving President Donald Trump’s disgusting tweets. Not a single Republican voted against confirming Richard Grenell, Mr. Trump’s ambassador to Germany, despite his history of Twitter trolling — including nasty comments about the appearances of female journalists and world leaders — which was far worse than Ms. Tanden’s tweets. Mr. Manchin voted to confirm Mr. Grenell, too.
Ms. Tanden is tapped to lead Mr. Biden’s budget office, where it is important for the president to have an appointee who reflects his views. Is it unacceptable for the OMB director to be strongly partisan? Republicans didn’t think so when they jammed through Mick Mulvaney, a co-founder of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, to be Mr. Trump’s first OMB chair, despite Mr. Mulvaney’s destructive opposition to raising the national debt limit and avoiding government shutdowns during Barack Obama’s presidency. When Mr. Mulvaney became Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, Republicans approved conservative ideologue Russell Vought to direct the Trump administration’s budget office. Ms. Tanden, by contrast, has deployed her sharp elbows to battle the Democrats’ left wing as well as Republicans on her right.
Manchin drew plenty of criticism for last week’s statements, both for showing off his double standard and for wielding it against the first South Asian women nominated to run the OMB.
Tanden may not be an uber-progressive’s progressive, but she has the chops to do the job, Biden wants her, and she has the support of the rest of the Senate Democratic caucus.
But in a 50-50 Senate, Manchin is flexing his new muscle. He is in a position now to be kingmaker along with moderate Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Jon Tester of Montana. Manchin, 73, is rumored to be uninterested in running again in 2024. He owns his state’s political establishment. He will not bend to pressure from inside or outside West Virginia, and is quick to let people know it:
A few weeks back, Manchin created a stir when he publicly criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for doing a TV interview with a local West Virginia station that was seen as an effort to pressure him to support the COVID-19 bill. He received a call from the White House shortly after his complaint to try to smooth things over.
With Manchin opposed to Tanden, Biden will have to coax at least one Senate Republican to support her to win Senate confirmation. Manchin is bucking to challenge Joe Lieberman’s legacy.