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White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is reportedly coming under fire as the Democratic Party and some in the Biden administration look to assign blame for the president’s anemic first year in office.
A lengthy Politico article details how moderate Democrats have reportedly been complaining that Klain is “overly deferential” to the more liberal wing, and have said privately he should be replaced, with second-guessing coming from the party and the administration.
BIDEN SHOULD FIRE CHIEF OF STAFF KLAIN ‘IMMEDIATELY,’ SEN. SASSE SAYS
“He was going to govern from the center, he was going to work with Republicans,” one lawmaker grumbled to the outlet. “And to have a chief of staff that apparently has decided that he’s going to be Bernie Sanders, I think that’s confusing. It’s just not helpful.”
That lawmaker had also reportedly called for Klain to be fired in the fall, when Democrat infighting was at its peak. The outlet said that while Klain has his defenders, others believe he has not shouldered enough blame for the problems that have dogged the administration.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain attends an event with governors of western states and members of the Biden administration cabinet in Washington, D.C., June 30, 2021. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Biden’s approval ratings have been sinking, and major legislation — particularly the Build Back Better Act, which contained a slew of top liberal priorities, and its sweeping elections bill — has stalled in Congress. A botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, rising inflation and a continuing crisis at the southern border have also been political thorns in the side of the administration.
NBC News reported that some officials have accused Klain of mismanaging the West Wing, giving too much credence to cable news and social media — Klain is a regular user of Twitter — and of being responsible for Biden’s drifting away from his brand as a moderate. Others reportedly accused Klain of having a dated view of what it means to be presidential, leading to “one-dimensional” speeches from Biden.
White House officials told NBC that that criticism is not reflective of reality and attributed it to politics and score-settling. Some former chiefs of staff also note that coming under fire for the White House’s struggles is part and parcel of being in the role.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
“It falls on him because he has the title,” Bill Daley, chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, told Politico. “It goes with the territory. When it’s good, the credit goes with the president. And when it’s bad, the blame goes to you.”
Meanwhile, some in the liberal wing of the party fear that removing Klain would mean a shift to the center by Biden.
“If you want to avoid a triangulation situation, a Bill Clinton second-term strategy, Ron is the best ally you’ve got to not get a course correction like that,” one source told the outlet.
Klain has also gotten criticism from Republicans. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called on Biden to fire Klain for pushing a “guaranteed-to-fail vote” on nuking the filibuster that he argued was a political ploy just to appease progressives.
“It’s CYA [cover your a–] week in Washington,” Sasse said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “The Senate is taking a guaranteed-to-fail vote on blowing up the filibuster so that [Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer can ward off a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and so that Ron Klain can throw some chum at the Democratic Party’s progressive base.
“Ron Klain thinks his own activists are dumb enough to fall for it,” the senator added. “President Biden ought to fire his chief of staff immediately.”
Biden sought this week to defend his record at the first-year mark, pointing to vaccine rollouts, a low unemployment rate and high job growth among other achievements. Klain spoke to the New York Times this week and defended his own performance, saying he is “very focused on making sure that he hears from lots of different voices and that when I come in to see him, usually there are other people around.”
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With Democrats eyeing a potentially bruising midterm election later this year, Klain expressed optimism that voters will see the achievements he believes the administration has racked up.
“I think that voters are going to respond positively to the results we produce. And I think those results are going to be quite clear later on this year,” he said.
Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.
