Dakota Beacon

Observing the incompetent leadership in the White House, a person may reasonably ask “Who’s really in charge?” Does the mantle fall on the “duly elected” president? Or, in Biden’s cognitively weakened state, are others propping him up to be used as a front for their own purposes?

One question begets another. Why would not any sensible person regard the manipulation of a cognitively impaired president by others a plausible explanation for his radical policy agenda? After all, Biden’s cabinet as well as the Executive Office of the President (EOP) are comprised of over seventy percent of high-level personnel from President Obama’s administration. Conspiracy theory? Let’s look behind the veil.

Focus on the closest advisors to the president – the EOP. The EOP comprises a group of federal entities responsible for advising and supporting the president's policy agenda and administration. The EOP's composition has changed over time as different presidents’ administrations have added, transferred, and removed entities.

EOP has a budget of three-quarters of a billion dollars ($714 million) and a staff of 1,800 to run the following eleven offices: Council of Economic Advisers, Council on Environmental Quality, Domestic Policy Council*, National Economic Council*, National Security Council*, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs*, Office of Management and Budget, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Office of Public Engagement*, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The directors of the offices marked with a (*) do NOT require Senate confirmation. The White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain oversees the coordination of these offices.

Speaking of Ron Klain, he and many of the people staffing the EOP are regular swamp rats moving from political office to political office through the revolving door of bureaucracy.

A tedious background review serves a purpose. This review points toward an answer to the question, “Who’s in charge of our government?”

In 1993 President Bill Clinton divided the existing Office of Policy Development into two different councils. By executive order he created the Domestic Policy Council (DPC) separating it from the National Economic Council (NEC). Both councils now reside in the Office of Policy Development which in turn are nestled within the EOP.

The DPC focuses on issues of domestic policy, excluding economic policy. It functions as the principal arm of the president when coordinating domestic policy measures THROUGHOUT the executive branch. The president serves as the DPC chairman with an appointed director executing day-to-day operations. Furthermore, it functions as the principal forum through which the president frames domestic policy matters as well as considers new senior Cabinet and White House officials.

The director of the DPC not only heads up that office but also serves as principal assistant to the president for domestic policy.

On January 20, 2021, Biden chose Susan Rice to be the director of DPC. In this role, Rice oversees a large part of the president’s domestic agenda. Again, this position does not require Senate confirmation. As former national security adviser to President Obama, Rice oversaw the Benghazi, Libya debacle. Prior to that she served as ambassador to the United Nations. At one point, Rice was on Biden’s short list for vice president.

Susan Rice’s mission entails the following. DPC drives the development and implementation of the President’s domestic policy agenda in the White House and ACROSS the Federal government, ensuring that domestic policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President’s stated goals, and are carried out “for the American people.” To carry out her mission, Rice controls subordinate agencies within DPC involving Economic Mobility, Health and Veterans Affairs, Immigration, and Racial Justice and Equality.

To be more specific, the principal functions of the DPC include: (1) to coordinate the domestic policy-making process; (2) to coordinate domestic policy advice to the President; (3) to ensure that domestic policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President’s stated goals, and to ensure that those goals are being effectively pursued; and (4) to monitor implementation of the President’s domestic policy agenda.

The point? Without a doubt Rice exercises extraordinary power above all other persons to guide and influence Biden’s far-ranging domestic policy. Add to that the fact that Biden exhibits obvious cognitive decline and a case of profound elder abuse can be made. At worst, the US government operates exclusively in the hands of a few unelected bureaucrats without benefit of Senate confirmation who give a wink and a nod to Biden as the titular head of government. We may never know for certain. Complexity of government has grown beyond comprehension.

Wisdom begins by asking questions. Rudyard Kipling offered simple advice in one of his little ditties. His suggestion helps explore the ultimate answer to “Who is in charge?”

           I keep six honest serving-men

                      (They taught me all I knew);

           Their names are What and Why and When

                      And How and Where and Who.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).