Obama was elected as President of the USA in 2008 elections amidst great enthusiasm. It was an election for voting the first black President. Both before and after the elections, Obama carried his own style and statement and during the next eight years, he was able to put his own stamp on the administrative decisions. Obama had strong views on issues but it was not possible for him to take many radical steps to improve the lives of the common American people much excepting the introduction of Obamacare the health assistance for the people at large. Obama had one advantage. He was not under pressure from the Left bloc in the Democratic Party as Bernie Sanders supporters were not that assertive during his reign.

But for Biden, the present time is different. He won due to the strong opposition of the people to the four years of dictatorial rule of Donald Trump. Though Sanders withdrew from the contest for Democratic nomination facilitating Biden’s final candidacy, Sanders supporters with Left programmes have won in both Congress and the senate. But importantly, in state legislatures, the progressives are in big numbers. This will have its impact on the policy making in the White House of Biden and the extent of pressure will depend on how Biden moves on implementing the policies he promised before the elections as a part of the Democratic Party programme like raising the minimum wage to $15 a hour in American industry.

Biden is known as a person who has strong common sense but not strong views. He is a well meaning person and he has friends across the political lines. He is not a fighter to push through issues through ideological lines. Rather on a vexed issue, he will try for a consensus taking the help of Republicans. This approach has its relevance now as the Democrats are still two short in the senate and if the Democrats cannot bag the two remaining seats where elections will be held in January, the Biden administration will be saddled with a hostile Senate dominated by the Republicans which will be used by the GoP to block all bills which can help in increasing the popularity of the Biden administration.

The fact is that Trump has got 47 per cent of the votes despite all his anti-democratic measures and he has emerged as the icon of the right. He has plans to contest in the 2024 presidential elections; He will be preparing for that giving no respite to Biden whom he calls “sleeping Joe”. If the senate remains with the Republicans, Biden will be tied and it will be impossible for him to get some of the demands of the progressives on the basis of which he won.

That leads to the issue what he wants really. Does he want radical change to come in the life of the common people by implementing the pro-people programmes which the Sanders group is pursuing. So far, in his cabinet picks, he has indicated that he will follow the policies of Obama period. His message on foreign policy is that US will reengage with the world giving up the withdrawal policy persued by Trump. But now, Biden’s foreign policy will be on test in US attitude to the left wing regimes of Latin America which were the target of Trump administration during the last four years.

United States President-elect Joe Biden has taken a different approach to fill out his cabinet so far. Aside from choosing Kamala Harris as his vice president, he has his main Democratic rivals for the nomination – Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders – and appointed mainly technical experts with relevant experience and an international outlook

In Biden’s words, the US is “ready to lead the world, not retreat from it”. And “multilateralism is back”.

Biden may not have filled his cabinet with rivals, but he has also not surrounded himself with clones or an “echo chamber”. He made clear he wanted his cabinet to, “tell me what I need to know, not what I want to know”.

As secretary of state, he has appointed Antony Blinken. A francophone internationalist, Blinken served as former President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state.

As treasury secretary, Biden has appointed Janet Yellen. She was chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014–18 and currently heads the American Economic Association. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz recalled her as one of his brightest students. She is for big spending by the US government to shore up the economy and to create jobs. Her approach has the backing of Sanders. She understands the complexities of the trade wars and she is expected to be most flexible inn sorting out issues with China.

John Kerry has been appointed to the new post of climate envoy. He is globally respected as a former secretary of state and ran unsuccessfully for president himself in 2004.Bidenn has given the signal that the USS is recommitting itself to climate accord and will commence follow up discussions after the new administration starts functioning.

And following four years of Trump’s anti-immigration policies, Biden has selected a Cuban-born immigrant, Alejandro Mayorkas, to lead the Department of Homeland Security. After his nomination, Mayorkas spoke of his desire, “to advance our proud history as a country of welcome”. Biden has appointed a diverse team including a number of immigrants and that speaks well of his pluralist approach. But the crucial issue is of the appointment of labour secretary whose role is vital in brining changes in the lives of American labour. Will Biden appoint someone close to Sanders or Mr. Sanders himself? That may decide the future relationship between Biden and the Left within the Democratic Party? (IPA Service)