Biden’s Obama-era Cabinet picks frustrate liberals, civil rights leaders

Of the 14 Cabinet-level picks announced so far, seven are women, and nine are people of color. But Biden has also mostly selected people he’s known for years, or even decades. The average age of Biden’s department heads so far is 63, according to a Washington Post analysis. About 80 percent of the White House and agency officials he’s announced have the word “Obama” on their résumé from previous White House or Obama campaign jobs, the analysis found.

Some of them will be in roles similar to the ones they held in the last Democratic administration.

Tom Vilsack — secretary of agriculture for all eight years of President Barack Obama’s term — will take up that role again under Biden, if confirmed. Vivek H. Murthy, who was Obama’s surgeon general, would have the same job for Biden. The incoming White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, worked for Biden in the same capacity when he was vice president.

“We cannot move forward in a new direction with just the same people including some of the people who are responsible for the mess we are in,” said Evan Weber, the political director of the Sunrise Movement, a liberal group focused on climate issues. “We would like to see more young progressives in roles in the Biden administration.”