Biden Administration Referred To As "Biden-Harris Administration"
The Claim
Official White House communications have directed that the Biden administration should be referred to as the “Biden-Harris Administration,” breaking from precedents set by previous administrations.
News posted on
Emerging story
An alleged leaked memo from a government agency this week reportedly directed all federal agencies to refer to the current presidential administration as the “Biden-Harris Administration.” This story led to rumors that the name change could be due to Biden’s health, and that it would pave the way to the transition of power. News websites and social media users began to imply that the change had been made secretly, creating cause for suspicion as to the motivations behind it.
Conservative blog Red State ran a headline asking, “Is Biden Slowly Being Shoved Into the Background?” OUTspoken called it a “move to diminish Biden,” and brought up rumors that the president’s health and cognitive abilities may make him unfit to hold his position. American Digest linked to an older story in which former President Trump speculated that a transition to a Harris presidency had been in the works all along. Twitter users interpreted the news with similar suspicions.
Misbar’s Analysis
Starting from the first day of Biden’s presidency, official White House documents have used the term “Biden-Harris Administration.” It has been consistently used on the official White House website, in press releases, and throughout the fifteen executive departments. Because of this consistency, it is surprising that this story has warranted recent headlines.
The White House had never made an official statement announcing the use of this title, or describing its reasons to do so. Politico reports that the choice to hyphenate came about because of Biden’s own experience as second in command. During a January interview with NPR, Kamala Harris stated that she and the president would be “full partners” in governing. An editorial written for Women’s eNews back in January compared the hyphenated names to those used in a modern marriage, and said this made for positive optics. In light of Harris being the first woman and person of color to become vice president, perhaps the name choice is a symbolic attempt to correct historic racial and gender inequities. The Biden-Harris presidency has been described as a collaboration, rather than a hierarchy of positions.
