US President-elect, Joe Biden has selected his longtime adviser Ron Klain as his chief of staff, a decision that was in order with The New Diplomat‘s earlier prediction which had hinted that Biden would go for his decades-old associate with years of experience to fill the top role in the White House.
Before the Thursday’s announcement, this newspaper had precisely reported that Klain, who is a senior adviser to the Biden campaign and a former chief of staff to Vice Presidents Biden and Al Gore was a special candidate for the role.
It would be recalled Klain headed the White House response to the Ebola epidemic in Africa during the Obama administration.
The New Diplomat also projected prominent names that are likely to fill key positions in the Biden’s incoming administration. They include Ambassador Susan Rice, a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations(UN) who is being strongly mentioned as potential front runner for the position of Secretary of State, Senator Bernie Sanders, the Senator from Vermont who is being speculated as a likely pick for the role of Secretary of Labour and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts who has been speculated as being considered for the position of Secretary of Treasury.
Meanwhile, Klain who served as the coordinator to the Ebola response during the 2014 outbreak, will lead a White House likely to be consumed by the response to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to spread unchecked across the nation, and he will face the challenge of working with a divided Congress that could include a Republican-led Senate.
In a statement Wednesday night, The President-elect said he chose Klain for the position because his longtime experience in Washington had prepared him for such challenges.
“His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again,” Biden said.
Klain who was a key adviser on the Biden campaign, guiding Biden’s debate preparations and coronavirus response was reported to have worked with the incoming President since the Democrat’s 1987 presidential campaign.
The choice of Klain underscores the effort the incoming Biden administration will place on the coronavirus response from day one.
Klain has experience in public health as the Ebola response coordinator and played a central role in drafting and implementing the Obama administration’s economic recovery plan in 2009.
“I’m honored by the President-elect’s confidence and will give my all to lead a talented and diverse team in a Biden-Harris WH,” Klain tweeted.
Choosing Klain is also likely to assuage some concerns among progressives who had been gearing up for a fight over one of the first and biggest staff picks Biden will make as he builds out his White House team. The chief of staff is typically a gatekeeper for the president, crafts political and legislative strategy and often serves as a liaison to Capitol Hill in legislative negotiations.
