Doug LayJan 24, 2023
Max Kennerly

Zients is a quintessential corporate Dem. He's unsurprisingly quite bad on policy and this would normally be an awful pick.

But he's presumably well-suited to corral business opposition to the various catastrophes planned by the GOP House like the debt ceiling.

Clock's ticking, Mr. Zients. Good luck.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/22/jeff-zients-biden-chief-of-staff/

Jeff Zients to be Biden’s next chief of staff

Jeff Zients, who led President Biden's coronavirus response, will replace Ron Klain, who is planning to step down.

The Washington Post
Jan 22, 2023 at 6:35pmWeb
Show threadMichael WymanJan 22, 2023
@maxkennerly my only worry about a corporate Dem is if they push Biden to give up concessions to the GOP in order to get the debt ceiling raised, etc.
Show threadFreediverXJan 22, 2023
@maxkennerly @donmelton Electing and appointing neoliberals never ends well.
Show threadGrassroots JoeJan 22, 2023
@maxkennerly
Not getting warm and fuzzies about this choice.
Maybe it'll work to farm out the more political decisions to others in the inner circle, but in the end, Zients is going to have to make final decisions on allocation of time & resources. His lack of political expertise/acumen seems a big risk to me.
In the end, bridging intraparty rifts to forge a united front for 2024 is as important as anything; his profile is not encouraging on this critical front.
Show threadoverstrikeJan 22, 2023
@maxkennerly given his previous brief (COVID), he’s also unquestionably the biggest fuckup in the Biden administration, so this is extremely unfortunate. I’m expecting the absolute worst. This probably means Dems need to find someone non-Biden to run in 2024.