No Sandwich is Safe: The Joe Biden Presidency

[Jadagul]

Hey, I totally get why this is a great deal for Buttigieg. If the only question is whether a Cabinet post would be good for the person who gets the job then philosophically we are on the same page as my cow-orkers critiquing meritocracy!

My question is whether it's a good idea to put someone with his limited experience in charge of a federal department.

Butt is taking this job so he can run for VA governor in 2022.

Fo you mean Indiana?

No, he's moving to Virginia to be the Secretary of Transportation, obviously.

Running for governor of Indiana as a Democrat isn't a very strong bet. He basically has nowhere to move up on a state level; he has to move either into the Federal government or to a bluer state.

(I don't know what particular skills or knowledge you think a Transportation secretary should have that he doesn't.)

[Ellie]

Driving big trucks while taking dictation in shorthand, obviously.

[thoreau]

Hey, I totally get why this is a great deal for Buttigieg. If the only question is whether a Cabinet post would be good for the person who gets the job then philosophically we are on the same page as my cow-orkers critiquing meritocracy!

My question is whether it's a good idea to put someone with his limited experience in charge of a federal department.

Butt is taking this job so he can run for VA governor in 2022.

Fo you mean Indiana?

No, he's moving to Virginia to be the Secretary of Transportation, obviously.

Running for governor of Indiana as a Democrat isn't a very strong bet. He basically has nowhere to move up on a state level; he has to move either into the Federal government or to a bluer state.

(I don't know what particular skills or knowledge you think a Transportation secretary should have that he doesn't.)

First, if he wants to be governor of VA he should start running now because their election is in 2021, not 2022. Or aim for 2025.

As to skills or experience, ideally some amount of time involved in either an agency under DOT, an industry regulated by it, a congressional committee overseeing it, or at least serve as mayor or county executive in a bigger locale with bigger transportation infrastructure projects.

A big city mayor or county official who has dealt with a big freeway or airport or ocean port project would be fine. Ranking member on an oversight committee would be fine. Experience as a senior manager in a relevant agency would be fine.

McKinsey should not qualify you for anything except euthanasia.

[D.A. Ridgely]

Hey, I totally get why this is a great deal for Buttigieg. If the only question is whether a Cabinet post would be good for the person who gets the job then philosophically we are on the same page as my cow-orkers critiquing meritocracy!

My question is whether it's a good idea to put someone with his limited experience in charge of a federal department.

Butt is taking this job so he can run for VA governor in 2022.

Fo you mean Indiana?

No, he's moving to Virginia to be the Secretary of Transportation, obviously.

Running for governor of Indiana as a Democrat isn't a very strong bet. He basically has nowhere to move up on a state level; he has to move either into the Federal government or to a bluer state.

(I don't know what particular skills or knowledge you think a Transportation secretary should have that he doesn't.)

Running as governor in Virginia without being a Virginian, by which I mean more than owning a house in NoVa while in the Biden Administration, is an even worse bet. And don't let the last several years convince you Virginia is a solid Blue state. Run a homosexual mayor from the North as governor of the Old Dominion? I don't think so. Not saying it's impossible but it's not a good strategic move. Maryland would be much more welcoming to carpetbaggers.

[thoreau]

He's a smart, hip, millennial technocrat who's worked for McKinsey. He can do ANYTHING!!!!

(Human Hemorrhoid worked for McKinsey. I fucking hate McKinsey.)

[Warren]

Driving big trucks while taking dictation in shorthand, obviously.

I believe he knows how to handle a big rig and take dic.

[Hugh Akston]

Historically speaking being the minority Blue mayor of a mid-sized city is the ideal background for Secretary of Transportation under a Democrat regime.

There have been a couple with transportation experience, if you count sending bills to the floor that they don't actually have to enforce or implement as experience.

What thoreau really wants is people with transportation experience, like the SecTrans under George W Bush and Donald Trump.

[Shem]

Hey, I totally get why this is a great deal for Buttigieg. If the only question is whether a Cabinet post would be good for the person who gets the job then philosophically we are on the same page as my cow-orkers critiquing meritocracy!

My question is whether it's a good idea to put someone with his limited experience in charge of a federal department.

Butt is taking this job so he can run for VA governor in 2022.

Fo you mean Indiana?

No, he's moving to Virginia to be the Secretary of Transportation, obviously.

Running for governor of Indiana as a Democrat isn't a very strong bet. He basically has nowhere to move up on a state level; he has to move either into the Federal government or to a bluer state.

(I don't know what particular skills or knowledge you think a Transportation secretary should have that he doesn't.)

First, if he wants to be governor of VA he should start running now because their election is in 2021, not 2022. Or aim for 2025.

As to skills or experience, ideally some amount of time involved in either an agency under DOT, an industry regulated by it, a congressional committee overseeing it, or at least serve as mayor or county executive in a bigger locale with bigger transportation infrastructure projects.

A big city mayor or county official who has dealt with a big freeway or airport or ocean port project would be fine. Ranking member on an oversight committee would be fine. Experience as a senior manager in a relevant agency would be fine.

McKinsey should not qualify you for anything except euthanasia.

Telling you man, you're looking in entirely the wrong direction. He's going in to sell marginal Reds on an infrastructure bill. Which is something he spent the campaign convincing Biden he can do.

[lunchstealer]

Historically speaking being the minority Blue mayor of a mid-sized city is the ideal background for Secretary of Transportation under a Democrat regime.

There have been a couple with transportation experience, if you count sending bills to the floor that they don't actually have to enforce or implement as experience.

What thoreau really wants is people with transportation experience, like the SecTrans under George W Bush and Donald Trump.

the 26th, 19th, and 15th largest cities in the US are mid-sized now?

[Jadagul]

Historically speaking being the minority Blue mayor of a mid-sized city is the ideal background for Secretary of Transportation under a Democrat regime.

There have been a couple with transportation experience, if you count sending bills to the floor that they don't actually have to enforce or implement as experience.

What thoreau really wants is people with transportation experience, like the SecTrans under George W Bush and Donald Trump.

the 26th, 19th, and 15th largest cities in the US are mid-sized now?

Yeah, they're all over half a million people and have 2m people in the metro area, so I'm not quite comfortable calling them "small cities".

[lunchstealer]

Historically speaking being the minority Blue mayor of a mid-sized city is the ideal background for Secretary of Transportation under a Democrat regime.

There have been a couple with transportation experience, if you count sending bills to the floor that they don't actually have to enforce or implement as experience.

What thoreau really wants is people with transportation experience, like the SecTrans under George W Bush and Donald Trump.

the 26th, 19th, and 15th largest cities in the US are mid-sized now?

Yeah, they're all over half a million people and have 2m people in the metro area, so I'm not quite comfortable calling them "small cities".

Yeah, at least compared to South Bend's 100k in a 300k metro. That's kinda like saying, "He's from Moldova, a medium-sized country like France, Germany, and South Africa."

[Jadagul]

Historically speaking being the minority Blue mayor of a mid-sized city is the ideal background for Secretary of Transportation under a Democrat regime.

There have been a couple with transportation experience, if you count sending bills to the floor that they don't actually have to enforce or implement as experience.

What thoreau really wants is people with transportation experience, like the SecTrans under George W Bush and Donald Trump.

the 26th, 19th, and 15th largest cities in the US are mid-sized now?

Yeah, they're all over half a million people and have 2m people in the metro area, so I'm not quite comfortable calling them "small cities".

Yeah, at least compared to South Bend's 100k in a 300k metro. That's kinda like saying, "He's from Moldova, a medium-sized country like France, Germany, and South Africa."

Ah, yeah, that's fair. Charlotte and Denver and Portland are mid-sized cities. South Bend is, like, a large town.

[lunchstealer]

Historically speaking being the minority Blue mayor of a mid-sized city is the ideal background for Secretary of Transportation under a Democrat regime.

There have been a couple with transportation experience, if you count sending bills to the floor that they don't actually have to enforce or implement as experience.

What thoreau really wants is people with transportation experience, like the SecTrans under George W Bush and Donald Trump.

the 26th, 19th, and 15th largest cities in the US are mid-sized now?

Yeah, they're all over half a million people and have 2m people in the metro area, so I'm not quite comfortable calling them "small cities".

Yeah, at least compared to South Bend's 100k in a 300k metro. That's kinda like saying, "He's from Moldova, a medium-sized country like France, Germany, and South Africa."

Ah, yeah, that's fair. Charlotte and Denver and Portland are mid-sized cities. South Bend is, like, a large town.

I'd put them in 'large city' category, at least Denver and Charlotte, with NFL franchises and serious regional clout. I mean if Denver isn't a big city then pretty much nothing smaller than Chicago is. LA and NY would probably argue yes, but they're not in a position to understand size outside of themselves.

[Jadagul]

There are ten US cities with population over a million, and Denver isn't close. Charlotte has edged out San Francisco, though, as a city.

Normally I prefer to look at metro areas. When we're talking about mayors that's only halfway fair, though. Charlotte's metro area is relatively small, at only a couple million. Smaller than Denver's.

But yeah, I would say that the US has fewer than ten large cities. That seems like a fairly comfortable claim?

[Mo]

Historically speaking being the minority Blue mayor of a mid-sized city is the ideal background for Secretary of Transportation under a Democrat regime.

There have been a couple with transportation experience, if you count sending bills to the floor that they don't actually have to enforce or implement as experience.

What thoreau really wants is people with transportation experience, like the SecTrans under George W Bush and Donald Trump.

the 26th, 19th, and 15th largest cities in the US are mid-sized now?

Yeah, they're all over half a million people and have 2m people in the metro area, so I'm not quite comfortable calling them "small cities".

Yeah, at least compared to South Bend's 100k in a 300k metro. That's kinda like saying, "He's from Moldova, a medium-sized country like France, Germany, and South Africa."

Portland in 1980 was the 35th larges city and had a population of 350K, so the Goldschmidt comparison is closer.

[Kolohe]

I doubt Mayor Pete will live in Virginia, my guess is that he gets something in all the new construction around the Navy Yard or the Wharf. (Which is at work or one metro stop away).

If he really wanted to make a splash and a statement, he’d live in Congress heights (two metro stops away, but on the other side of the Anacostia, aka EOTR ‘east of the river’)

ETA - also the next Va gov election is this coming year, 2021, and it’s Terry’s to lose.

[Hugh Akston]

Uncle Joe calls Trump America's first racist president

"No Republican president has done this, no Democratic president," he continued. "We've had racists and they've existed, they've tried to get elected president, but he's the first one that has. And the way he pits people against one another is all designed to divide the country, divide people, not pull them together."

[D.A. Ridgely]

Uncle Joe calls Trump America's first racist president

"No Republican president has done this, no Democratic president," he continued. "We've had racists and they've existed, they've tried to get elected president, but he's the first one that has. And the way he pits people against one another is all designed to divide the country, divide people, not pull them together."

Wilson and Nixon are probably chuckling in Hell over that one.

[Aresen]

Uncle Joe calls Trump America's first racist president

"No Republican president has done this, no Democratic president," he continued. "We've had racists and they've existed, they've tried to get elected president, but he's the first one that has. And the way he pits people against one another is all designed to divide the country, divide people, not pull them together."

Wilson and Nixon are probably chuckling in Hell over that one.

I think 'overtly racist' could describe just about every president before Eisenhower. After Ike, it just got more subtle.

[Warren]

Uncle Joe calls Trump America's first racist president

"No Republican president has done this, no Democratic president," he continued. "We've had racists and they've existed, they've tried to get elected president, but he's the first one that has. And the way he pits people against one another is all designed to divide the country, divide people, not pull them together."

Wilson and Nixon are probably chuckling in Hell over that one.

I think 'overtly racist' could describe just about every president before Eisenhower. After Ike, it just got more subtle.

To my way of thinking LBJ was the most post Ike racist president, being of the Great White Savior variety.

[Shem]

Uncle Joe calls Trump America's first racist president

"No Republican president has done this, no Democratic president," he continued. "We've had racists and they've existed, they've tried to get elected president, but he's the first one that has. And the way he pits people against one another is all designed to divide the country, divide people, not pull them together."

Wilson and Nixon are probably chuckling in Hell over that one.

I think 'overtly racist' could describe just about every president before Eisenhower. After Ike, it just got more subtle.

To my way of thinking LBJ was the most post Ike racist president, being of the Great White Savior variety.

The guy who signed the Civil Rights Act was more racist than the guy who invented "Welfare Queens," passed the Comprehensive Crime Act, and increased the funding for the War on Drugs by nearly a factor of ten in just his first term? That's an interesting theory.

[Warren]

Uncle Joe calls Trump America's first racist president

"No Republican president has done this, no Democratic president," he continued. "We've had racists and they've existed, they've tried to get elected president, but he's the first one that has. And the way he pits people against one another is all designed to divide the country, divide people, not pull them together."

Wilson and Nixon are probably chuckling in Hell over that one.

I think 'overtly racist' could describe just about every president before Eisenhower. After Ike, it just got more subtle.

To my way of thinking LBJ was the most post Ike racist president, being of the Great White Savior variety.

The guy who signed the Civil Rights Act was more racist than the guy who invented "Welfare Queens," passed the Comprehensive Crime Act, and increased the funding for the War on Drugs by nearly a factor of ten in just his first term? That's an interesting theory.

Reagan certainly didn't invent "Welfare Queens". It was a common idiom at the time. Certainly there were consequences to the CCA and WOD, but I don't think there is a credible case that they were intended to repress black people.

OTOH the CRA is specifically designed to disproportionately impact black people.

[Hugh Akston]

Fellas, fellas, the point here isn't who was more racist. The point is that they were all at least somewhat racist, except of course for America's First Black President.

[Shem]

Reagan certainly didn't invent "Welfare Queens". It was a common idiom at the time.

I acknowledge that he didn't invent it. But he did make it a meme, and he's the one who racialized the language behind it. He's also the one who went to the location of the Mississippi Burning murders and made a speech about states rights, to an audience who would have understood that very well to be an attack on the Civil Rights movement.

Certainly there were consequences to the CCA and WOD, but I don't think there is a credible case that they were intended to repress black people.

The crack/cocaine sentencing disparity. Pushing "crack babies" and "predator criminals" in his speeches about drugs. Amending the Comprehensive Drug Abuse and Control Act to allow police departments to seize assets without trial, allowing them to shake down poor people in cities, who were mostly minorities. The guy built his political movement on racist dog whistles, and when he won, he came through with plenty of laws that hit minorities significantly harder than white people.

OTOH the CRA is specifically designed to disproportionately impact black people.

You realize the CRA of 1964 was the one that banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, right? It only disproportionately impacted Black people because racist policies disproportionately impacted Black people. Your argument is like saying rape laws are biased in favor of women because most rape victims are female.

except of course for America's First Black President.

If we're talking in terms of policy impact, he's got a good case for second most racist.

[nicole]

Ugh