The midterm elections are fast approaching and two more high-level officials are leaving the Biden administration. Gina McCarthy resigned from her position as National Climate Adviser. John Sullivan has resigned as U.S. Ambassador to Russia. And, a familiar face is returning to the White House as an adviser to Joe Biden.
The Washington Post reported on McCarthy’s resignation in the works in April but she has now officially resigned with the date of September 16 designated as her last. As I wrote when her upcoming departure was first reported, good riddance. She’s an extremist on climate change. She led the Environmental Protection Agency under Obama before Biden chose her to lead domestic climate policy. Her advice to Biden surely included what led up to him rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization after Trump chose to withdraw from both.
Her appointment to be Biden’s National Climate Adviser did not require Senate confirmation. When Obama nominated her to be the head of EPA in 2013, only six Republicans voted for her confirmation. Her resignation comes just weeks after the Democrats passed the Biden administration’s version of the Green New Deal – the Inflation Reduction Act. That bill was never about reducing inflation but the Biden administration’s climate change agenda. Perhaps now that it has been signed by Biden, McCarthy thinks her work has been completed. Her deputy, Ali Zaidi, will fill the vacant position.
“Under Gina McCarthy and Ali Zaidi’s leadership, my administration has taken the most aggressive action ever, from historic legislation to bold executive actions, to confront the climate crisis head-on,” Biden said in a statement announcing the administrative moves.
McCarthy often sent confusing messages on energy policy. She announced the cancellation of oil and gas leases in May, for example, and copied a CBS reporter on an email about the decision. Then that announcement was walked back by others in the administration as premature. She proceeded with her anti-fossil fuel decisions as Americans were feeling the pain at the gas pump from rising gas prices. Her contempt for the oil and gas industry has been well known since the days of the Obama administration. As I said, good riddance to her.
Guess who is returning to the White House? John Podesta. Biden is continuing to surround himself with former Obama people. Podesta will oversee the implementation of the Green New Deal 2.0. Why am I having flashbacks to the Solyndra story?
Longtime Democrat John Podesta, who served as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, and managed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 White House bid, will oversee the implementation of the climate and energy provisions of Democrats’ recently passed Inflation Reduction Act while also chairing the President’s National Climate Task Force, according to the White House.
Another departure from the Biden administration comes from the U.S. Ambassador to Russia. John Sullivan has worked for five American presidents. A Republican, Biden asked him to stay on when he came into office.
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Mr. Sullivan oversaw the operations of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia during its most difficult period in decades — after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, prompting the United States and partner nations to impose economic sanctions on Russia and give Ukraine weapons and humanitarian aid.
Mr. Sullivan, a Republican, served as deputy secretary of state under both the secretaries of state in the Trump administration, Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo, before being appointed ambassador to Russia in December 2019. He served as acting secretary of state in April 2018, before Mr. Pompeo began his tenure leading the State Department.
Mr. Sullivan agreed to stay on as ambassador when asked by President Biden after he took office in January 2021.
“It may be passé now, but I was taught that when a president asks an American to serve, only the most compelling excuse can justify a refusal with great remorse,” Mr. Sullivan said in the written interview. “And I had no excuse, because I love my job, and I love working with my colleagues at Embassy Moscow.”
It seems to me that having an experienced ambassador in Moscow is important at this time, given Putin’s war in Ukraine. Sullivan sounds like the consummate professional at the State Department so it does not bode well that he has decided to retire even before the midterm elections. Elizabeth Root, a foreign service officer who is currently the deputy chief of mission in Moscow, will fill the vacancy until a new ambassador is named and confirmed by the Senate.
The most interesting part of this most recent re-arrangement of deck chairs on the sinking USS Biden, is the return of Podesta. He’s a strident, aggressive Democrat activist, not exactly known for his finesse in stating his political opinions. He founded the Center for America Progress. I think his return to the White House as a top adviser signals that Joe Biden and others in his administration will continue to ratchet up the anti-conservative rhetoric we’ve heard in recent weeks. Biden’s shift from phony claims that he’s working with both sides of the aisle on policy matters to downright demonizing Trump voters has been breathtaking. Biden has gone where no president, even the highly divisive Barack Obama, has gone with his ugly statements against Republicans.
If Republicans don’t sign on to his agenda, they are un-American and against democracy, according to Dark Brandon. Senator Patty Murray’s GOP challenger in Washington State, Tiffany Smiley, said on CNN Sunday that “Unity is not conformity” when she spoke about Biden’s ultra divisive speech delivered on Thursday night. Biden’s idea of unity is going along to get along, as Republicans are often prone to do. Some of that has finally changed during the Biden administration and that’s a good thing. It’s up to Republicans to stop Biden’s plans of transforming America into a socialist haven where government runs everything and Biden uses his pen to sign away debts that are then pushed off onto taxpayers, like the student loan debt forgiveness. It’s imperative that Republicans challenge that move in court, as it is unconstitutional and very likely illegal. Let Joe Biden call Republicans un-American. We’ll see how far that gets him.
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