Experts in the News | Miller Center

Joe Biden's Backing of Neera Tanden Could Cost Him Key Political Capital, Experts Say

But experts warned against Biden dragging out Tanden's nomination, arguing that he could risk losing political capital he will need to pass much of his legislative agenda over the next four years. "I suspect that he will not prolong this," Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a nonresident senior fellow with governance studies at the Brookings Institution, told Newsweek. "My advice would be to not lose any more political capital than you already have, don't go to the mat for it, because this is one of several really important appointments that you need to get in place quickly," she added. "Already, they're behind. They only have six of 15."

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

Joe Biden's Backing of Neera Tanden Could Cost Him Key Political Capital, Experts Say

David Leblang, a professor of public policy at the University of Virginia and a senior fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, specifically cited the need for Biden to stay on the good side of senators—among them Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah). All three senators have come out against Tanden's nomination over the past week. "If he thinks he's going to have to strike deals with Republicans, especially moderate Republicans, where he knows he's going to need the votes, is this where he uses that capital? I'm skeptical," Leblang told Newsweek.

David Leblang

Joe Biden’s Nominees Of Color Are Facing Outsize Opposition

“If it was just Tanden, I’d say her circumstances are sufficiently unusual that we might not want to generalize. But it’s not just her,” said Jennifer Lawless, a political science professor at the University of Virginia and an expert in gender and politics. “If you’ve got a handful of nominees who are either women or people of color systematically experiencing more hurdles and doubt than white men going through the confirmation process, that raises a flag.”

Jennifer Lawless

Biden passes one-month mark with less than half a Cabinet

"The experience of the past three administrations suggests that despite the relative speed and efficiency that the Biden transition demonstrated in identifying nominees, there are hurdles that will likely delay the confirmation of their carefully picked candidates," Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia who has tracked Cabinet appointments across administrations, wrote earlier this month. "Such a delay amidst a pandemic, economic volatility and historically high levels of racial tension is a most unfortunate setback."

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

Jill Biden picks up where she left off

“The country is facing a series of crises simultaneously,” said Jennifer Lawless, professor of politics at the University of Virginia. “In a lot of ways, she has to be the first lady times two just because the environment is so much more difficult than it has been for the last 100 years.”

Jennifer Lawless

Biden declares major disaster

Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, said Biden is “well-suited” to deal with the disaster because of his decades of service in the U.S. Senate and as a former vice president and because of “his genuine concern for people...He’s got to show empathy right off the bat,” Perry said in an interview. “It’s important for a president to go to a place that’s been battered, but be careful about the footprint. He doesn’t want to make things worse.”

Barbara Perry