The White House has been widely mocked for its latest attempt to defend President Joe Biden’s controversial nominee to lead the White House budget office.
The defense: The Biden administration over the weekend continued to back Neera Tanden amid collapsing Senate support for her nomination as director of Office of Management and Budget.
- Moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah on Monday joined Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, in announcing they would vote “no” based in part on Tanden’s trolling Twitter history.
In a Monday morning tweet, White House press secretary Jen Psaki asserted that Tanden is “an accomplished policy expert.”
- As proof, Psaki said that Tanden, a fellow former Obama staffer, is an “Asian American woman” and has “lived experience” as a beneficiary of “a number of federal programs as a kid.”
The reaction: Many conservative Twitter commentators saw yet another instance of Biden’s team signaling commitment to group-based “equity” over results.
“Okay, but what has she actually accomplished?” asked Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe.
“Her identity is not a qualification,” said activist Jack Posobiec.
Glenn Greenwald, a left-wing journalist, was among those who doubted the Biden administration was sincerely trying to get Tanden nominated.
With Manchin’s opposition, Democrats need at least one GOP vote to confirm her on the Senate floor.
