An Obamacare architect, former Hillary Clinton adviser and profession Russiagater, Neera Tanden, has been tapped as potential funds workplace director below Biden, setting Twitter on hearth with recollections of her poisonous observe file.
Tanden was a healthcare adviser below the Barack Obama administration and helped draft his brainchild the Inexpensive Care Act. A detailed ally of Hillary Clinton throughout her unsuccessful 2016 presidential run, she presently heads the pro-Clinton suppose tank Heart for American Progress. Though born and raised in the USA, Tanden’s mother and father are immigrants from India.
The mainstream media have praised her doubtlessly changing into “the primary girl of coloration and the primary South Asian American to guide the Workplace of Administration and Price range.”
Identified for her combative tweeting, Tanden appears to have a behavior of clashing with anybody who questions the knowledge of the Democratic Get together’s political machine.
this Neera Tanden? pic.twitter.com/SS08C66Mdp
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) November 30, 2020
Journalist Vincent Bevins joked that her potential nomination ought to be seen as an inspiration which “reveals lifetime of posting cringe just isn’t a barrier to greater workplace.”
Grayzone author and assistant editor Ben Norton labelled Tanden a “neoliberal troll” who “hates the left with a burning ardour and spends all her time on right here attacking leftists.” In truth, Tanden was overtly hostile in the direction of supporters of Vermont senator and two-time presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. The left-leaning lawmaker accused Tanden final yr of “maligning my workers & supporters and belittling progressive concepts.”
Her hostility in the direction of these important of Clinton reportedly even led to bodily scuffles. In 2008, Tanden is claimed to have assaulted a staffer after he requested Clinton a important query concerning the Iraq struggle.
Conservative pundit Mike Cernovich described Tanden as a “backyard selection resistance troll,” though this description arguably doesn’t do justice to her spectacular output of Russiagate-related outbursts.
She was a militant disciple of the debunked concept that Donald Trump’s presidential marketing campaign was in cahoots with Moscow, floating numerous weird allegations, together with, however definitely not restricted to, the proposition that Russian hackers had infiltrated Florida’s voting system with Trump’s full data in the course of the 2016 election.
Conspiracy theorist and elections doubt sower @neeratanden accuses Trump of realizing upfront that Russia allegedly accessed FL’s voter knowledge base in 2016. https://t.co/REYFiQgri2 pic.twitter.com/zCxA95B5zy
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) November 30, 2020
Tanden provocatively alleged that WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange engaged in “fascist conduct” by publishing leaked State Division emails and different US paperwork.
Her international coverage views have additionally raised eyebrows. She (in)famously instructed Libya ought to present compensation, within the type of oil, to the US as a way of compensation for its “liberation.” A US-led NATO intervention in 2011 turned the North African nation right into a secure haven for warlords, terrorists and human traffickers.
“Given tonight’s information, I hope oil-rich nations world wide are rising the safety on their rigs and drilling websites,” journalist Glenn Greenwald quipped, citing an e mail of Tanden’s that was leaked to the Intercept.
Given tonight's information, I hope oil-rich nations world wide are rising the safety on their rigs and drilling websites: https://t.co/oN8KCtW7DU pic.twitter.com/dEc5mkEs77
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 29, 2020
“We’ve a large deficit. They’ve a whole lot of oil. Most People would select to not have interaction on the planet due to that deficit. If we need to proceed to have interaction on the planet, gestures like having oil wealthy nations partially pay us again doesn’t appear loopy to me,” she wrote within the message.
Tanden’s positions on budgetary points have been equally controversial, and will sign what she would advocate for if she takes the reins on the Workplace of Administration and Price range. In 2012, she urged the Obama administration to chop Social Safety.
Learn extra
“If we’re going to have a deal to deal with long-term deficit discount, we have to put each entitlements on the desk in addition to taxes,” she mentioned on the time.
Nonetheless, Tanden’s appointment would must be confirmed by the Senate, which seems to be a tall order given her less-than-diplomatic strategy to politics.
“Neera Tanden, who has an countless stream of disparaging feedback concerning the Republican Senators whose votes she’ll want, stands zero probability of being confirmed,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn’s communications director, Drew Brandewie, wrote on Twitter.
Reporter Matt Zeitlin famous that senators would doubtless “have Neera Tanden’s tweets blown up on a posterboard after which ask her to elucidate them below oath,” a state of affairs which he described as a “nightmare.”
Like this story? Share it with a buddy!