Indian American's nomination to lead OMB in trouble from the start

Democratic activist Neera Tanden is Joe Biden's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

Joe Biden's selection of Neera Tanden as the new director of the Office of Management and Budget is getting slammed from the right and the left.

On her Twitter account, the Indian American nominee wrote: "After my parents were divorced when I was young, my mother relied on public food and housing programs to get by. Now, I’m being nominated to help ensure those programs are secure, and ensure families like mine can live with dignity. I am beyond honored."

As expected, Republicans denounced Joe Biden's nomination of Neera Tanden to head the Office of Management and Budget.

It is not a question of qualifications, the Democratic loyalist liberal is highly qualified for the position. For a number of Republicans, the reason for their opposition appears to be personal.

The same Republicans who couldn't remember reading or hearing about a derisive, racist, or outrageous tweet from Donald Trump, can easily recall Tanden's tweets, which she used to point out the GOP's hypocrisy.

Even before the formal announcement made made by Biden on Monday afternoon, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton referred to Tanden as a "partisan hack."

"Neera Tanden, who has an endless stream of disparaging comments about the Republican Senators' whose votes she'll need, stands zero chance of being confirmed," tweeted Drew Brandewie, communications director for Texas Sen. John Cornyn.

As the CEO of the liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress, Tanden was highly critical of some of the GOP Senators whose votes she needs for confirmation and the Republicans are not about to let her forget her attacks.

"Neera Tanden is a big-government, big-spending radical liberal who's a terrible choice for OMB Director," Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) tweeted. "It's just more proof that @JoeBiden and the Democrats will continue to move further and further to the Left."

Even if the Democrats were able to win one of Georgia's Senate seats making the Senate an even split between Dems and Republicans giving a Vice President Kamala Harris the deciding vote, Tanden might not be able to get a vote from Sen. Bernie Sanders, whom she blamed for taking votes away from Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency in 2016.

As the right amps up their attacks on Tanden, she is also getting criticized from the far left.

“I don’t know anyone personally in Bernie world who is happy about this choice,” said Briahna Joy Gray, Sanders’ former national press secretary, to Politico. “We’re talking about a woman who’s notorious for assaulting Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager.”

Politico also reported that Paco Fabián, campaigns and communications director for the Sanders-founded Our Revolution, said Tanden is “certainly not a unity pick” and “it’s not a secret that progressives and Neera Tanden haven’t gotten along over the last few years on several issues.” 

It is noteworthy that Sanders nor anyone on his current staff has remained silent on Tanden's nomination.

A member of Biden's transition team defended the selection of Tenden: “This is the first time I can recall that an OMB director who’s charged with setting a federal budget will be someone who actually grew up in Section 8 housing, grew up on food stamps,” the official added.

Biden's selection of an Asian American for OMB director drew praise from Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. "Neera is a strong, experienced leader who is ready to tackle the urgent economic and financial policy decisions facing our nation as we work to recover from the coronavirus crisis and rebuild an economy that works for all Americans," said Chu. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.