Joe Biden names Ron Klain as Chief of Staff, praises his 'deep varied experience'

The 46th US President-elect Joe Biden on November 11 named Ron Klain, who served as the “Ebola tsar” during the Obama administration, as his Chief of Staff. Klain is a senior campaign advisor for Biden and one-time top aide for the former vice president. He was Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president and also served chief of staff to vice president Al Gore. The 59-year-old has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump’s pandemic response and Biden has chosen a Washington veteran just as the new president makes ending the COVID-19 pandemic his top priority. 

In a statement, the President-elect praised Klain’s “deep varied experience” and said, “Ron has been invaluable to me over the many years that we have worked together, including as we rescued the American economy from one of the worst downturns in our history in 2009 and later overcame a daunting public health emergency in 2014”. 

Biden added, “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”. 

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Who is Rob Klain?

According to the press release, Klain has had a long career in government. He has served as the staff director of the Senate Democratic leadership committee. He has also worked with several Democratic presidential campaigns, including Biden’s 1988 and 2008 presidential campaigns. Klain was also the lead Democratic lawyer for Gore during the 2000 presidential election recount. 

The 59-year-old’s experience in a global health pandemic and a recession have been cited as among his top qualifications to help Biden at this moment. The former vice president made the coronavirus pandemic and the economic recession it has triggered central to his campaign, promising to help lead Americans out the crisis. Furthermore, form 2008 to 2011, Klain, who served as Biden’s chief of staff, helped oversee $787bn stimulus package that Barack Obama signed in response to the Great Recession.

Klain said. “It’s the honour of a lifetime to serve President-elect Biden in this role, and I am humbled by his confidence. I look forward to helping him and the Vice President-elect assemble a talented and diverse team to work in the White House, as we tackle their ambitious agenda for change, and seek to heal the divides in our country”. 

Meanwhile, the hire, the first made by Biden for his new administration, marks another step towards his White House transition as President Donald Trump contests election results with baseless claims of voter fraud. Biden’s first chief of staff will likely have an easier job than any of the four men who held the title under President Trump. All of them wrestled to varying depresses with internal power struggles with the White House, leaks and an Oval Office occupant who sought out and acted on advice from outside sources. 

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