Previously the only major Biden nominee to bite the dust was Neera Tanden over mean tweets. Senate Republicans and Dems dumping Saule Omarova for praising Soviet policies and proposing to abolish banking and centralize the economy is a vast improvement over that. But I have to wonder if this would have happened if the Left hadn’t come after Senate Dems so hard and if Biden’s poll numbers weren’t tanking so hard.
Still, this is a good day.
Five Democratic senators have told the White House they won’t support Saule Omarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, effectively killing her nomination for the powerful bank-regulator position.
In phone call on Wednesday, Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), all members of the Senate Banking Committee, told Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) — the panel’s chairman — of their opposition.
They’re joined in opposing her by Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
Sinema is not a huge surprise. Tester had telegraphed opposition before. This is a guy who’s getting backed not to support someone like Comissar Omarova. Kelly is worried about winning an election in a semi-swing state and he doesn’t need ads touting his support for a member of a Communist youth movement.
Does this mean that Omarova’s nomination is dead?
The Biden administration’s nominations are about favors and part of that is refusing to pull a nomination even when it’s clearly dead just to make a point. In the past, an administration might have been privately told not to nominate or to quietly withdraw a nomination by members of its own party. Instead, expect Biden’s front women to put up a tantrum and cry racism.
But maybe after this Comrade Omarova can go back to shoplifting at T.J. Maxx.
Leave a Reply